Programmed Lives: First Stage
by Sanae
Summary: Most people believed Ryosuke Takahashi had 100% control over his life. They were very wrong.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own Initial D, Shigeno-sensei and the Kodansha Publishing Company do.

A/N: This is a 2010 revision. If you want to read the original story, please send me a PM.

**Programmed Lives - First Stage**

_Prologue_

Mere days after surviving the deathliest opponent he'd ever encountered and, in so doing, surviving a literal blast from the past, Ryosuke Takahashi tried to forget he'd ever met Rin Hojo by indulging in his favourite activity: locking himself in his room while triple-checking every piece of data he'd collected during the almost year long existence of his Project D. Living in a fickle environment, he had made it a habit to analyse everything in order to leave as little as possible for fate to decide.

He was currently looking into one of the many spreadsheets he'd created with the information regarding Takumi's AE86. The figures were most impressive, as usual: Takumi Fujiwara really knew how to push his car to its limits in a way that no one else could have ever done. Well, that wasn't entirely accurate: his father Bunta was still better but, judging by Takumi's overall improvement, the kid was awfully close to surpassing the legendary ex-racer.

That fact made Ryosuke feel concern because, although he forced himself to be impartial when it came to the management of his two drivers, Keisuke would always be his little brother. If Takumi became too good too quickly, Keisuke's chances to make it into professionalism would be put in jeopardy. Just then, speaking of the devil, he heard a knock on his door and Keisuke's voice saying:

'Aniki, are you there?'

'Yes, come in,' Ryosuke replied.

Keisuke opened the door and walked into the room in all his tall, spiky bleached hair glory.

'The old geezer wants to talk to you,' he said grabbing one of the many car magazines Ryosuke kept on a neat pile on top of his bedside table. Keisuke then sat onto the bed and started browsing it.

'Did he say what about?' Ryosuke asked, trying to mask his concern. Talking to his father, even more when he was being summoned formally, topped his personal top-ten of most hated activities.

'No idea,' Keisuke said scanning an article on a new type of supercharger.

'Alright,' Ryosuke replied, 'I better go then,' he knew that postponing it would be most unwise.

'Sure,' Keisuke said, 'can I stay here while you're gone?'

'Of course,' Ryosuke replied, 'but don't touch the computer, I'm working on something.'

Without being sure Keisuke had heard him, Ryosuke got up from his chair and walked out of his room making his way to the big studio from which his father worked in the rare occasions he was home. There, he knocked on the door and waited for his father to answer.

'Come in,' Doctor Sousuke Takahashi said.

Ryosuke opened the door and, before stepping into the room, he said:

'Good evening father. Keisuke told me you wanted to speak to me.'

'Yes, close the door and take a seat,' the man ordered him.

That was definitely not a good sign, Ryosuke thought trying to remain calm while he braced himself for one of his father's dreadful speeches. Sitting onto one of the antique armchairs the doctor had in front of his huge mahogany desk, he studied the doctor's expressions trying to guess his intentions.

'I heard from your mother that you won your race,' Sousuke said.

Ryosuke was so taken aback by his father's sudden interest in his sons' racing activities that it took him a few moments to collect himself, blank his features and with a remarkably calm voice, he said:

'Yes, we did.'

'Good,' the man said, 'even though it's just a hobby of yours, I think you should still do your best.'

At this point Ryosuke and for the first time in a long time, he felt genuinely confused and not even remotely aware of where this conversation was heading. He was so puzzled by it all that he even failed to feel offended hearing his father referring to Project D as a mere hobby of his. Thankfully, just as Ryosuke was going to open his mouth to tactfully request for an explanation, his father said:

'Your finals are approaching and I think it's due time we start considering your future.'

Ah, right. So that was the whole point of this conversation, Ryosuke thought feeling oddly relieved. This wasn't surprising at all. In fact, he had been expecting this chat for quite some time. After all, it had been he himself who had promised his father that his racing activities would come to an end the day he would graduate from medical school. For this reason, he just nodded in agreement.

'Of course,' Sousuke said looking as if he were very satisfied with himself, 'your future is pretty much decided: the day after your graduation, you'll start your residency at the Arakawa Hospital in Maebashi so we have nothing to worry about regarding your future occupation.'

'That's right,' Ryosuke said doing his best to sound enthusiastic about the idea.

'Son, there's something I need to ask you before I proceed,' the doctor said.

'Of course,' Ryosuke replied, as if he had had any say in the matter.

'Do you have any lady friend at this moment?'

Hearing that question nearly made Ryosuke fall off his chair and if he hadn't been holding onto the chair's armrests, he would probably have. Feeling his throat drying up, he cleared it before he said:

'No, I don't.'

'Brilliant,' Sousuke said with a tight smile, 'this way there won't be any messy break ups.'

'Father…'

He stopped speaking when he saw the dark blue A5 sized leather folder his father was handing him.

'What is…'

'Look inside,' the doctor ordered him.

Taking the folder in his remarkably steady hands, he opened it slowly to reveal a professionally taken picture of a girl dressed in a traditional kimono and who looked vaguely familiar to him.

'You probably remember her,' his father said reading his thoughts, 'you two used to play together when you were children. She's the daughter of your future boss and her name is Akiko.'

'Father…'

'Make yourself available for this Saturday evening,' the man interrupted him, 'she and her father will be joining us for dinner to discuss the details of your wedding.'

_To be continued…_


	2. Chapter One

**Programmed Lives - First Stage**

_Chapter One_

While Ryosuke made his way back to his bedroom, the entire conversation kept replaying itself in his head, each time sounding worse. He was even more distraught when considering that it had been an arranged marriage which had destroyed the lives of Rin Hojo and that poor girl Kaori. When he opened the door to his room, he felt surprised to find his younger brother still reading the magazine.

'Aniki,' Keisuke said seeing him, 'what did the old geezer want from you?'

'What?' an strangely inattentive Ryosuke asked.

Even Keisuke noticed how strangely inattentive his older brother was, and putting the magazine down, he pushed himself off the bed and, using a tone of voice clipped with anger, he asked him:

'He's not asking you to drop Project D, is he?'

'No,' Ryosuke managed to reply, 'that's not it.'

'Ah,' Keisuke sighed his relief, 'because you still have another month left, don't you?'

'Keisuke…'

'I mean,' he continued, 'we still haven't gone to Tokyo, have we? And…'

'Keisuke,' Ryosuke interrupted him, 'I'm not in the mood to talk about this right now, can you please go back to your room?'

Please.

His brother never asked him to please do something: his were usually orders rather than requests.

'Alright Aniki,' Keisuke replied, 'I'll see you for dinner.'

'Sure,' Ryosuke replied distractedly.

As soon as he was alone in his room, he dropped himself onto the chair in front of his computer which was currently on screensaver mode and, holding his head in his hands, he placed his elbows on top of his knees and then, he let his guard down, allowing an intensive wave of anguish hit him.

Speaking from a rational standpoint, this shouldn't have shocked him so much. After all, as the heir of the Takahashi Medical Group it was to be expected that one day, he would end up marrying the daughter of one of the families from their exclusive social circle. Alas, Ryosuke found it impossible to be reasonable about doing something he wasn't even remotely prepared to do.

The worst part was that the decision had already been made by the heads of the two families and he knew that, whether he liked it or not, he and that Akiko girl were now essentially betrothed and there really was nothing Ryosuke could do to prevent the wedding from happening.

Getting up, he retrieved the blue folder from the top of his desk and, opening it, he took another look at the picture inside it. The girl wasn't spectacularly good looking: she looked very much like the typical Japanese upper class girl with glossy, straight brown hair which fell all the way down her back. He couldn't tell her height but her petite frame told him she wasn't going to be very tall.

Her face was kind and her smile carried all the way up her brown eyes. She wouldn't win any beauty contest but at least she didn't look like one of those big-breasted bimbos he hated so much.

With a guilty pang, he realised how shallow he was being and that made him wonder what Akiko herself had thought when she had received a similar folder containing his own picture. Not that Ryosuke had any doubts about his good looks for his brief encounters with the opposite sex had made him well aware that he had what it took to please any woman but, for some reason, he found himself wishing that Akiko's appraisal of his appearance had not been as shallow as his of hers.

At that moment, his mobile phone rang.

'Hello,' he answered.

'Hi,' Fumihiro said, 'are you busy now?'

'No,' Ryosuke replied finding it oddly amusing just how big a lie that was.

'Listen,' Fumihiro told him, 'we've received the new parts we ordered to repair your FC so we'll be able to put it on tomorrow and test it this Saturday.'

'This Saturday?' Ryosuke asked his right-hand man.

'Yes,' Fumihiro replied, 'you had scheduled a meeting to talk about what we'd do next,' the man sounded obviously surprised that Ryosuke had forgotten something as important as that.

'I can't make it this Saturday, Fumihiro,' Ryosuke said, 'something's come up.'

'Oh. I see. I take it you can't postpone it, can you?' Fumihiro asked, with disappointment badly masked in his voice.

'No. I'm sorry,' was Ryosuke's reply.

'Okay.' Fumihiro accepted, 'what about your brother?'

'I think he'll be busy too. It's a family dinner, so I think my parents expect him to be here too.'

'Okay,' Fumihiro said, 'I'll get Matsumoto to call Takumi.'

Oh God, Takumi! Ryosuke had completely forgotten all about him too.

'No, don't bother,' he replied, 'I'll call Fujiwara myself.'

'Okay, I'll speak to you later,' Fumihiro said.

'Sure,' Ryosuke replied.

He closed the call being fully aware that Fumihiro had noticed that something was off and that Ryosuke wasn't being his usual controlled self. Trying to calm down a bit, he counted up to ten, took a deep breath and then dialled Takumi's home number.

'Fujiwara Tofu,' the deep, slightly raspy voice of Bunta Fujiwara replied.

'Good evening Fujiwara-san. This is Takahashi Ryosuke, is your son home?'

'Wait a second, I'll go and get him,' Bunta replied.

After a while, Ryosuke heard Takumi's calm and monotone voice say:

'Ryosuke-san, what's up?'

'I'm calling you to cancel this Saturday's meeting,' Ryosuke said, 'I'm sorry for the short notice.'

'Ah, that's okay,' Takumi replied, 'I'll take my father's car out for some training instead.'

'Yeah, that'd be good,' Ryosuke said, 'I'll call you whenever we can do the next meeting, okay?'

'Sure,' Takumi replied.

Hanging up, it was obvious to Ryosuke that unlike Fumihiro, their downhill ace had failed to notice that something was not right in his team leader's behaviour. It was typical of Takumi to be oblivious to anything which didn't have four wheels or wasn't the girl he was currently seeing.

Lucky him. Takumi would probably end up marrying her or whoever else he chose because in spite of his docile look, Ryosuke knew that Takumi had this thing of doing exactly what he wanted whenever he wanted. Takumi would never allow for anyone to tell him what to do with his life.

Excepting street racing, everything else in his life had been programmed for him by his over controlling father: from his career path to his marriage to maybe even the place where he'd live.

Street racing was the only thing he had been able to decide by himself. It was his escape valve, the only thing that made him feel truly alive. It would also need to end when he started his job at the Arakawa Hospital. If it wasn't because he hadn't done it since he was a very small child, at that precise moment, Ryosuke Takahashi would have probably burst into tears.

_To be continued…_


	3. Chapter Two

**Programmed Lives - First Stage**

_Chapter Two_

'He can't possibly think you'll marry her! There is no fucking way!' Keisuke shouted angrily.

'Keisuke, keep your voice down,' Ryosuke hissed, acutely aware that both of their parents were on their way to the dining room to join them for lunch. He started thinking that telling his younger brother about the whole sorry affair in order to warn him in advance had not been a great idea.

'How can you be so freaking calm?' he heard Keisuke asking him while making a huge effort to lower his tone of voice to a more reasonable level, 'if that old geezer did something like that to me, I'm as sure as hell I'd go completely ballistic.'

'I'm not exactly pleased about it, Keisuke,' he accepted, 'but I have a plan and I hope it'll work. We just have to see how events will unfold during tonight's dinner.'

Keisuke shook his head showing his profound disbelief.

'Whatever, I just hope you know what you're doing.'

'So do I,' muttered Ryosuke under his breath.

Thankfully, the arrival of their parents prevented Keisuke from hearing that last remark. Ryosuke noticed that his younger brother kept unusually quiet during their meal, throwing angry glances at his father whenever he was sure the doctor wasn't looking at him making Ryosuke grateful that no one went anywhere near the subject of the engagement or the dinner with the Arakawa for, he knew, short-fused Keisuke would simply explode.

A few hours later, at exactly seven o'clock sharp and keeping an admirable punctuality, Doctor Daichiro Arakawa and his daughter were welcomed into the Takahashi residence. The man was short with short greying black hair, dressed impeccably in a dark blue suit and, after briefly bowing at the lady of the house, he then moved to greet his lifelong friend and colleague.

'Takahashi,' he said with a flippant smile, 'it's been a long time since I last came to your place.'

'It's been long indeed, Arakawa,' Sousuke replied, 'you've already met with my oldest son Ryosuke during his job interview but you may not be able to recognise my youngest one, after all,' he added with the usual disapproving tone he used when speaking about him, 'Keisuke has changed quite a bit since the last time you saw him.'

'I've had the pleasure of meeting Ryosuke,' Daichiro confirmed, 'he's a really impressive young man. If he keeps working this hard, you'll have every reason to be proud of him.' When he said that, Ryosuke couldn't help both detecting a hint of jealousy in his voice and noticing the way his future boss had completely ignored Keisuke.

His younger brother _helped_ the doctor to take notice of him by clearing his throat quite loudly.

'Ah, yes, Keisuke,' Doctor Arakawa finally said acknowledging him, he then took a look at Keisuke's bleached hair and, rather maliciously, he asked him, 'tell us, what is it that you study?'

'Keisuke is taking a break from his studies,' Ryosuke replied, relieving his brother from having to answer, 'he's carefully considering several options he has for his future occupation.'

'Ah, I see,' Doctor Arakawa said.

He then gave Keisuke a look that neither of the two Takahashi brothers liked.

The awkward silence which followed was diplomatically broken by their mother who said:

'This lovely lady must be your daughter.'

Kinue Takahashi took a step towards the young woman who, up to that moment, had been quietly standing a couple of steps behind her father. Ryosuke was surprised to see that he wasn't the only one who had forgotten all about her, even Akiko's father seemed a little taken aback before he said:

'Yes, this is her.'

Kinue exchanged a confused glance with her husband before she looked back at the girl.

'We're very pleased to see you again, Akiko-chan.'

'Likewise, Kinue-sama,' the girl replied politely, 'I'm also happy to be back in Japan after so long.'

This time, Ryosuke was surprised to hear such a firm and strong tone of voice coming from such a tiny woman. She was, in fact much smaller than he had expected. She was over twenty centimetres shorter than he was and her petite frame made her look even smaller. That said, she seemed to transmit an inner strength that left Ryosuke quite speechless. Akiko then turned to speak to him.

'It's also a pleasure to see you again, Ryosuke-san, even though I doubt you'll remember me.'

'I'll be honest,' Ryosuke said finding his voice, 'I didn't really recognise you at first but after my father mentioned it to me, I remembered how you used to come here to play when we were kids.'

'I did,' Akiko confirmed before offering Keisuke a smile and say, 'you used to cry all the time.'

'I've grown up since then,' Keisuke countered a tad on the aggressive side.

'I can see that,' Akiko commented looking up at him.

While he observed the scene, Ryosuke remembered the picture of her that he still had in his room. The truly happy smile she had worn in that picture seemed to have been replaced with an obviously fake one and all the cheerfulness in her eyes was gone. Ryosuke highly intuitive nature told him that this arranged marriage was just the tip of the iceberg that was causing her unhappiness.

Just then, Kinue asked them to move on to the dining room and, while they made their way there, Akiko quietly handed her the small but posh looking bag that she'd been carrying in her left hand.

'I've just come back from Hokkaido,' she explained to her, 'I was there visiting some old friends and I got some of their traditional sweets, I thought you may like them.'

'Oh, that's very kind of you,' Kinue replied smiling at her, 'thank you.'

'You're most welcome,' Akiko said returning the smile.

A few moments later, they busied themselves taking their pre-assigned seats while the housemaids started the preparations to serve them their meal. Ryosuke noticed that his mother handed Akiko's bag to one of them muttering instructions regarding the exact moment in which to serve the sweets.

Then, the woman joined them at the table, taking her seat at the right side of the head of the table where her husband sat. Doctor Arakawa was seated right in front of her, at the left side of his fellow doctor, leaving Ryosuke and Akiko facing each other while Keisuke made sure he sat as far away from his father as possible.

During the meal, Ryosuke found out that Akiko was just two months younger than him. She was also a last year medical student who would start working at her father's hospital at soon as she graduated. He also found out that she had spent a very large part of her childhood at a boarding school in England and that she was fluent in French, Spanish and, of course, English.

In short, Akiko was your typical upper class girl with excellent education and exquisite manners. She had been brought up to be the perfect wife for the heir of a rich family such as the Takahashi.

Keisuke, who had been staring at both Akiko and at his brother alternatively listening to their conversation, finally decided to get involved in it by asking her the boldest question he dared to ask:

'Akiko-san, what do you think of street racing?'

Sousuke Takahashi threw a look full of disapproval at his youngest son.

Akiko, however, didn't even flinch.

'I don't know much about it,' she answered, 'I do enjoy watching the occasional rallying race.'

'Really?' Ryosuke asked, his surprise obvious in his tone of voice.

'Yes, I'm quite a fan of Sebastien Loeb...' she started saying, her face brightening up, then her father made some noise that made her stop speaking and lower her eyes down to the Irish linen table cloth.

If anyone found this odd, no one commented on it nor on the fact that father and daughter had not exchanged a single word during the whole time. In fact, Doctor Arakawa seemed to pretty much ignore his daughter, almost as if he wanted to pretend she didn't even exist. Once again, it was up to Kinue to break the uncomfortable silence that had fallen upon her dinner table.

'Sousuke-san,' she said, 'do you think it's an appropriate time to give her that?'

'Yes, I think so,' her husband replied.

'Alright,' she said handing Ryosuke a small box, 'darling, give this to Akiko-chan.'

No one needed to guess what was in the box and if he felt himself getting paler, Ryosuke noticed that poor Akiko was getting rather white herself. He felt sorry for her since it was obvious that she was definitely not pleased by the whole deal either. Nevertheless, she took the box from him and more because she was forced by etiquette than anything else, she opened it to reveal a gold engagement ring with a huge diamond set on it.

'Oh my God,' was all she could manage to say.

Entirely disregarding her discomfort, her father smiled at Doctor Takahashi and said:

'The wedding planner I've hired says a month should do to organise the event, what do you think?'

'Yes, that's about the right amount of time,' Sousuke replied, 'the house should be ready by then.'

'House?' Ryosuke asked, his voice sounding of a slightly higher pitch than usual.

'Yes, of course,' his father replied looking a little amused, 'the house your mother and I have bought for you two. Surely you don't expect to be living here with us once you're married, do you?'

Ryosuke didn't know what to say. He just looked at Akiko, who was still staring at the ring, obviously too stunned to even allow herself to lift her eyes to look at anything else. Keisuke was the only one of the three who, as usual, reacted staying true to his feelings: swearing viciously, he got up and left the table without paying any attention to his mother's protests.

'I'll go and talk to him,' Ryosuke said rushing to go after him.

_To be continued…_


	4. Chapter Three

**Programmed Lives - First Stage**

_Chapter Three_

When Ryosuke got to the mess that was his brother's room, he found it already empty. This made Ryosuke run towards the other only place where his brother could have gone: the house's garage. As usual, his instincts served him well for as he stepped in it, he saw his younger brother opening the door of the FD3S.

'Keisuke, wait!' Ryosuke cried almost pleadingly.

'What for?' the younger man shouted back while climbing into the car.

Ryosuke managed to grab the door just in time so that his brother couldn't shut it.

'Look, I said I had a plan…' Ryosuke started saying, only to be interrupted by Keisuke's dry laugh.

'Yeah, right,' he sneered, 'Aniki, no offence or anything, but I don't think that any of your super-plans is going to work this time.'

Ryosuke stared at his younger brother while trying to come up with something that could convince Keisuke that there was hope, a tough thing to do when his own optimism was beginning to falter.

'See, you can't even come up with anything to say, can you?' Keisuke said angrily.

Repeating the same expletive he'd used at the dinning room, he snatched the door from his older brother's grasp, shut it close activating the central locking system then, he inserted the key into the ignition, turned the car's engine on and took off so abruptly that Ryosuke almost fell onto his butt.

He then was forced to watch powerlessly as the Mazda disappeared in the distance. Hanging his head in defeat, Ryosuke stared at the now empty space that his brother's FD had left before he started to make his way back to the dinning room deciding that while he needed to speak to Keisuke, right now he had more pressing matters to tend to. Alas, when he got back into the dinning room, the only person who was there was his mother who sat at the table looking very troubled.

'Mother…' he started.

'Ryosuke,' she interrupted him, 'your father wants to speak to you, urgently,' she added.

'He…he's at his studio?' Ryosuke almost stammered.

'Yes,' Kinue replied, 'and Ryosuke, try not to upset him anymore than he already is.'

Hhe nodded at her once and then he walked out of the dinning room and made his way to his father's studio. This whole situation had seriously got out of hand and, unless he did something about it, it would only get worse. Knocking quickly on the door, he barely waited for permission to step into the room and as soon as he saw him, his father started speaking with badly contained fury.

'Ryosuke,' the doctor hissed, 'sit down and listen carefully to what I'm about to say.'

Ryosuke complied as quickly as he could. Whereas he had seen his father angry before whenever Keisuke managed to get himself into trouble and had witnessed quite a few of their shouting matches, this time Ryosuke knew that the anger was entirely directed at him and he was frankly afraid of the consequences.

'Ryosuke,' his father started, 'it's a good thing Doctor Arakawa is a sensible man and has already figure out the kind of spoilt brat that your brother is and, therefore, he won't take what happened tonight as a personal offence to him or his family, now,' he continued, 'I know you're probably not too happy about this marriage…'

'Happy? Father, I…'

'Did I say you could speak?' Doctor Takahashi snapped.

'No. Sorry,' Ryosuke said, barely containing his mounting frustration. Being treated like a five year old boy was a bit more than he could tolerate. Even if the one patronising him was his own father.

'As I was saying,' the man continued, 'I know you're not happy about this marriage but, I'll have you to know that we, and when I say we I mean the clinic, need this marriage more than you think.'

'What do you mean?' Ryosuke asked, his frustration rapidly turning into concern.

'What I mean is that with the new bill the government has just passed, all private clinics which don't offer public health services as well as private ones, will have to pay five percent more in their taxes. I don't need to tell you what that increase would do to our finances, do I?'

'Of course you don't,' he replied then, he dared asking, 'but what's this marriage have to do with it?'

'To offer public health services you need a special license that takes forever to get, not to mention the nearly endless screening that they'd do to our clinic in order to grant us the license. Doctor Arakawa's two hospitals have recently obtained this license and, by marrying Akiko-chan, we'd be able to join all three hospitals into a single consortium and, in so doing, extend the license to our clinic too. This would save us the increase of the taxes we pay and, of course, with time, our family would control the three biggest hospitals in the prefecture,' doctor Takahashi said triumphantly.

'Father, please hold on for a second,' Ryosuke begged, 'are you saying I'm going to marry this girl merely to get a government's license and two hospitals?'

'Yes, that's right. Akiko-chan's dowry makes her a very coveted wife, don't you think?' his father said, smiling in a way that made Ryosuke feel rather sick and completely speechless.

'Keisuke's stunt almost caused the whole thing to go awry,' the doctor explained, 'but, like I said, doctor Arakawa didn't take offence. In fact, he was polite enough to think that maybe, as a family, we needed some space so we could talk things through. Which is what we've just done. Now, can you go and get your brother, I need to speak to him too,' his father added, clearly considering the conversation with Ryosuke finished.

'He's gone, he was very upset and took off with his car,' Ryosuke explained.

'Oh well,' his father said, sounding unconcerned 'whenever he comes back, then.'

Ryosuke just nodded. It was unbelievable how little his father seemed to care about Keisuke. True, his younger brother had caused him more than one headache and he was in fact responsible for most of his father's white hairs, but Ryosuke was sure that if their parents had cared more about Keisuke, the youngest Takahashi would today be an entirely different person.

Meanwhile, the subject of Ryosuke's thoughts was driving his FD as fast as it could go. He had no memory of going as fast as that since the race against the AE86 in Mt Akina's downhill and he didn't even know where he was when he saw a set of headlights flashing at him through his rear view mirror.

'What the…' he said, finally recognising the car that was following him.

He stopped at the side of the road and turned the hazard lights on. Then, he waited for the other car's driver to get out of the car and walk up to his already open window.

'Finally! I've been trying to get you to pull over for quite a while, you know?' Kyoko's voice said trying to sound angry but unable to hide the immense happiness she felt.

'What the hell are you doing here?' Keisuke said and, he noticed, his voice didn't sound quite as angry as he thought he was. Was this the effect of seeing Kyoko all of a sudden?

'What are YOU doing here in Saitama?' the girl asked laughing softly.

'What are your talking about? Am I in Saitama?' Keisuke asked confusedly.

'Yes, where did you think you were?' Kyoko said sounding even more confused than he was.

'I don't know,' Keisuke half-muttered, 'I just kept on driving aimlessly.'

Kyoko crouched next to the door, so she could be eye-level with him, stared at him for a bit and then asked:

'Are you okay?'

'No,' Keisuke answered truthfully.

'Do you want to talk about it?' she offered looking rather hopeful.

'Yeah,' Keisuke said without thinking.

It would do him good to talk about this with someone and, something told him that Kyoko was probably the most indicated person to talk to about this whole mess. She then smiled and said:

'Right, then follow me, we'll park our cars somewhere safer and talk, okay?'

'Alright, show me the way,' Keisuke asked her and, almost like in automatic pilot, re-started the car's engine and, after letting her black FD overtake him, he followed her.

_To be continued…_


	5. Chapter Four

**Programmed Lives - First Stage **

_Chapter Four_

With both FD's parked side by side, Keisuke and Kyoko settled themselves on a bench that looked over the children's playing area of the park where they had stopped their cars.

'So, what's wrong?' Kyoko started, breaking the silence.

Keisuke let out a long sigh before speaking.

'I don't even know where to start,' he finally said.

'Is it that bad?' Kyoko said, sounding rather concerned.

'Bad? No, it's worse. It's a freaking disaster,' Keisuke said, his voice rising as he spoke.

'Okay, what has exactly happened?' Kyoko said, trying her best to sound helpful while not too intrusive.

'Aniki's getting married,' he spat angrily.

'WHAT?' Kyoko shrieked.

'The bastard's moving out too,' Keisuke mumbled disconsolately, confusing the poor Kyoko even more.

'I'm sorry Keisuke but you really aren't making any sense,' Kyoko said.

Keisuke looked at Kyoko and passed a hand nervously through his already messed up hair. He then frowned as he tried to sort his thoughts before putting them into, hopefully, a coherent verbal form.

'Alright,' he started, 'my family is pretty rich, you know?'

Ha! Rich! Kyoko thought. She knew that Keisuke's family was loaded with money but, since she wasn't supposed to know, she simply nodded.

'Well, I suppose it's normal that the heirs of rich families like mine end up marrying rich girls…'

'Hang on there, are you talking about arranged marriages?' Kyoko said sounding positively alarmed.

'Yeah. That's what it is. Essentially my father has arranged for Aniki to marry the daughter of one of his friends,' Keisuke explained, his tone of voice clearly indicating how disgusted he felt at the very idea.

'Wow! I thought these things didn't happen anymore,' Kyoko said almost as if she were thinking aloud.

'Yeah, me too,' Keisuke agreed.

'Surely your brother isn't going to accept this so easily,' Kyoko said.

'That's what's pissing me off so much. He said he had a plan and, you know, being as brilliant as Aniki is, I believed that things would sort themselves out.'

'But?' Kyoko asked, egging him to continue.

'Well, my parents organised a dinner tonight so they could meet up and introduce them.'

'And?'

'For fuck's sake, she's so tiny that she looks like a freaking schoolgirl! And she's not even pretty!' Keisuke shouted.

Before she could think, Kyoko snickered, that made Keisuke get up so abruptly that Kyoko stopped immediately.

'What the hell is so funny?' he asked crossly.

'I'm sorry Keisuke,' Kyoko replied biting her lower lip and looking down, trying to muster enough courage to say what she had in her mind, 'the thing is, they could have brought Miss Japan and you would still think she's not good enough for your brother.'

There was some silence after this and that made Kyoko think that Keisuke would storm off and leave her there alone. Instead, Kyoko heard Keisuke sitting back down on the bench. This made her look at his beautiful face.

'You're right,' he simply said looking back at her. She had to look at something else. Having Keisuke so close to her was disturbing enough without enduring having his gorgeous dark eyes on her too.

'Also, he said he had a plan. What makes you so sure he's going to fail?' Kyoko asked in a desperate attempt to stop herself from thinking too much about the man sitting next to her.

'Well, to start with, our mother gave her the Takahashi's engagement ring, my parents have already bought the house where they're going to live and her father's hired a wedding planner. So, all in all, I think everything is a done deal, don't you?'

'Whoa,' was the only thing Kyoko managed to say.

'Yeah. Now, I know that Aniki's a genius when it comes to masterminding plans but, this time he has my father and that girl's father against him and, as much as I hate to admit it, any fight against my father is a lost battle, even for someone as smart as Aniki.'

'Well, your brother had to take his brilliant intelligence from somewhere, didn't he?' Kyoko said.

'Precisely. He got his brains from my father. For Aniki, fighting against him is as hopeless as waiting for the rain in the desert.'

Kyoko didn't know what to say. She fought with herself trying to find something comforting to say, something that would make Keisuke feel better. Seeing him feeling so down made her heart contract rather painfully in her chest. She realised that he had awaken yet another feeling in her: the absolute need to protect him against anything that would hurt him. If Kyoko had known for a long time that any attempt at trying to repress her feelings for Keisuke was doomed, she had the confirmation right then that she would love Keisuke forever.

'The worst part is that he's going to be moving out,' Keisuke suddenly said bringing Kyoko back to reality, 'I mean, I knew that sooner or later we would leave our parents house and would lead more or less independent lives. But this is much too soon for me. I simply can't bear life in my parents' house without Aniki there.'

Keisuke was talking with his head bent down and while he looked at the ground between his feet. He had his hands on top of each of his knees and Kyoko dared to put one of her hands on top of his. Keisuke then did something that shocked her: he took her hand in his and squeezed it.

Without letting go of it, he carried on speaking:

'You already know that, not too long ago, my life was a gigantic mess. I got into all sorts of trouble and even my parents stopped bothering with me. Aniki was the only one who believed in me and who helped me. He's still the only one that thinks I'm worth a damn. With him gone, it'll be a matter of time before everything goes to the dogs again.'

'That's not true,' Kyoko said suddenly.

'Which part?' he asked.

'Both. Your life is not going to get messed up again. I know that you have enough determination to succeed. You will become a professional driver. I'm sure of it,' Kyoko said with fervent conviction firmly imprinted in her voice.

'You think so? Even if my brother's not there to help me?' Keisuke asked, this time looking at her again.

'I'm sure if it,' Kyoko repeated, then, looking away and with the smallest of voices, she added, 'and it's not true that your brother is the only one who thinks you're worth a damn.'

'What do you mean?' Keisuke asked.

'Oh Keisuke! Don't make me say it again,' Kyoko complained almost angrily.

'Kyoko…'

'I know, I know: your career comes first.'

'I'm sorry,' Keisuke said finally letting go of her hand, that simple gesture hurt Kyoko even more than she had imagined possible then, a very heavy silence fell between the two, making Kyoko feel even more upset until, at long last, Keisuke broke it to say, 'you know, thinking about the old times when I was a gangster has made me think that, while maybe Aniki's ways won't work, mine may just be what's needed here.'

'What do you mean?' Kyoko asked sounding rather worried for she definitely didn't like the almost evil look that she could now see on Keisuke's beautiful face.

'Don't worry. I think I've finally come up with a plan of my own,' Keisuke said triumphantly.

'Right, now I'm even more worried,' Kyoko said truthfully.

'Don't be. It'll work. You just trust me, ok?'

'Sure,' Kyoko said, definitely not feeling so assured.

'Let's go for a drive to celebrate, alright?' Keisuke suddenly suggested.

'Er...okay, I guess. My car or yours?' she said still not able to shake off her concern.

'Both. We'll have to take both to go where I want to go,' he said, now smiling with a real smile.

'Where is that?' Kyoko said smiling too, in spite of her worry.

'The ocean. I want to see the sunrise with you,' he said making it sound like he had just suggested for them to go and get some coffee.

Kyoko just nodded. She wanted to scream at him that he wasn't making it any easier for her to forget him but she was way too happy to do something as romantic as seeing the sun rising above the sea and, as with everything that had anything to do with Keisuke, Kyoko decided to settle for the best she had. And spending the whole night with him on her own was as good as it got.

With these mixed feelings, Kyoko followed Keisuke back to where their cars were parked.

The morning after, at the Takahashi's residence, Ryosuke's mobile phone rang waking him up.

'Hello,' he replied sleepily.

'Ryosuke-san, I'm so sorry, did I wake you up?' a feminine voice said at the other end.

'Yes. Who are you?' Ryosuke said, a bit more angrily than he intended.

'I'm really sorry, it's me, Arakawa Akiko. I got your mobile number from our records at the hospital, I sincerely apologise for breaching your privacy but I really needed to speak to you. I'm not entirely sure my father would approve if we arrange a meeting on our own so I needed to do this. Do you think we could arrange any such meeting anytime soon?'

'Sure. How about this morning?' Rysouke said noticing the fact that she seemed to be talking keeping her tone of voice as low as possible, making him think that this conversation had not been authorised by her father either.

'So soon? Fantastic, do you know where the Café Uno in Maebashi is?'

'Of course,' Ryosuke replied.

'Let's meet there in, let's say…a couple of hours?' she offered.

'Sure, see you there.'

'Good, thank you Ryosuke-san,' she said sounding deeply grateful.

'No problem,' Ryosuke said.

Closing the conversation, he felt genuinely curious to find out the reason why she needed to schedule an unauthorised meeting with him. Getting up from his bed, the almost twenty four year old future doctor prepared himself for one of the most important meetings of his life.

_To be continued…_


	6. Chapter Five

**Programmed Lives - First Stage**

_Chapter Five_

Ryosuke drove the short distance between his hometown Takasaki and Gunma's capital Maebashi feeling very worried about his younger brother. It was the first time since the time when Keisuke had left his biker days behind that he had spent the night out of the house without Ryosuke knowing where he was.

He hoped that Keisuke had stayed out of trouble. He was well aware that in the sort of state his younger brother was, anything could have made him pick up a fight. He also knew that if Keisuke started fighting again, he could easily revolve to his old ways. It hadn't been easy to get him back onto the right track the first time around, and Ryosuke had had Keisuke's full trust back then. This time, Ryosuke knew that it would be much harder. Pushing this thought to the back of his mind, he focused on the conversation he had ahead of him.

Akiko had been surprisingly bold, not only she had come forward by calling him, but she had also taken the initiative of looking for his number and calling him without her father knowing anything about it.

Considering his father's latest lecture, Ryosuke had had to re-examine the entire plan. So, he no longer could be the one breaking off the engagement, for his father would be absolutely furious with him. This didn't mean that Akiko couldn't do the same.

Albeit his behaviour with his daughter had been pretty strange, Ryosuke knew how powerful a daughter's pull with her father could be. He had witnessed many times the not-so-subtle ways in which Tsugumi always managed to get her father to do exactly what she wanted.

He was certain that Akiko could easily do the same thing with hers.

Sure, if she did so, not marrying her meant that his father's hospital wouldn't get the license it so desperately needed. But there were two facts that consoled Ryosuke: one, it wouldn't be his fault, for it would be Akiko who would have broken off the engagement. Two, Ryosuke would figure out a way to get the license by other, much less complicated means.

Yes. This was a much better plan. He just needed to convince her to talk herself out of this engagement with her father and, the way things looked like the previous night, Ryosuke knew that it wouldn't take much convincing for her to do so.

With this new-found confidence, Ryosuke parked his car at the Café Uno's customers' car park and, getting out of it, went inside the coffee shop.

Akiko wasn't there yet but, again, Ryosuke had arrived there with over ten minutes to spare then, and since the coffee shop was a smoke-free area, Ryosuke went back outside to have a cigarette.

A few minutes later, and when Ryosuke was about to re-enter the coffee shop, he saw a truly beautiful blue-coloured sports car entering the customers' car park.

To his immense surprise, the owner of the car was none other than Akiko herself. She appeared to have spotted him for, as she shut the car's door, she rose her hand to greet him then, and without being fully conscious of actually doing it, he found himself walking towards her.

'Is this your car?' Ryosuke said, completely skipping any formal pleasantries.

'No, I've actually stolen it,' she replied laughing softly, however and seeing Ryosuke look rather perplexed, she quickly added, 'yes, it's mine, sorry, sometimes I forget that you probably don't understand English humour.'

Ryosuke looked down at her and then did something that startled her: he chuckled too.

'No, it was funny. I just found it surprising you'd have a car like this. The 10AE is a pretty rare sight, you know it's a limited edition, don't you?'

'Yes, I do. Mazda has only made five hundred of them for the Japanese market,' she replied, then she asked, 'do you like Mazda cars?'

Ryosuke laughed softly once more, before pointing at the white FC parked nearby.

'Do you see that car over there?'

'Sure, that's an FC3S, if I'm not mistaken,' she replied.

'Correct and that is _my_ car,' Ryosuke said smiling.

'Well, that's a rare sight too. Especially one in such good condition,' she commented looking at the car with her eyes full of genuine admiration. This made Ryosuke feel strangely proud about his car. He didn't really know why, but he was pleased she liked his car.

'So you weren't lying then,' he said.

'Pardon me?' she asked, her smile quickly fading away.

'When you said you liked cars,' he explained, 'you weren't lying when you said you liked cars and, by the looks of it, you seem to have an excellent taste too…'

Her smile returning to her face almost as quickly as it had disappeared, she said:

'Yes. My passion for rallying and cars in general is just one more of my silly forms of retaliation against my father. Pathetic, isn't it?'

Ryosuke didn't know what to say to this, so he simply said:

'Let's go inside so we can talk, okay?'

'Okay,' she replied.

Looking at her from behind, Ryosuke said he liked her much better out of that dark grey formal dress she had been wearing the previous night. With a pretty light blue skirt and a white short sleeved blouse, she looked much more relaxed, more herself, Ryosuke decided. Also she wasn't wearing the severe looking black high heeled shoes but she had favoured a pair of white ballerinas that made her look much younger than her actual age.

They were shown into a table for two by a waitress who, for some reason, had mistaken them for a pair of lovers and couldn't stop smiling at them, making both feel rather uncomfortable.

'The first thing I have to ask you is that you don't tell my father about this meeting,' she started once they were settled at the table with two coffees in front of them.

'Sure but, why is that?' Ryosuke asked.

'Let's just say that he would go ballistic if he found out about what I'm going to ask you,' she explained.

'And what is that?'

'I clearly see that you want to marry me even less than I want to marry you. What I'd need you to do is to talk to your father so we can both break this engagement off and carry on living our lives as they've been up to now.'

Ryosuke stared at her finding himself unable to speak for a few long, painful instants.

'Why don't you talk to your father?' Ryosuke finally was able to ask.

She snorted rather loudly, startling Ryosuke in the process.

'Sorry but, I don't know if you've realised this tiny detail about my relationship with my father, but he tries his utmost to speak to me as little as possible and he never listens to me. Ever.'

'W-Why?' Ryosuke asked worriedly. His whole plan was dissolving as quickly as the sugar inside his coffee.

'Oh, that's pretty simple. I was born the wrong gender, you see,' she explained keeping her tone of voice light even though Ryosuke could detect the bitterness she was trying to hide with her feigned nonchalance.

Seeing he didn't speak, she carried on:

'This whole marriage thing is just his latest punishment because, silly me, I thought that I could try to live my life freely.'

'What do you mean?' Ryosuke asked.

'Well, every time I try to do something of my own accord, my father does something to punish me. You really don't want to get in my father's bad side. Trust me.'

'Care to give me an example?' Ryosuke asked, more out of worry than curiosity. After all, the man was to become his boss and he needed as much information about him as possible.

'There have been three times in my life when I tried to do something my father didn't quite approve. Once, when I was a kid, I tried to get him to send me to a public elementary school here in Japan so I could be with what was my best friend back then. Instead he sent me to a private boarding school in England. Then there's my current best friend. My father doesn't approve of this friendship so, in order to stop us from seeing each other, he managed to get my best friend transferred from the English office to the Australian one. We still keep in touch and that is what has brought me to this situation.'

Ryosuke was shocked, of all things he really didn't expect this. He had not been so taken by surprise since the day when Takumi had beaten Keisuke in that first, historical race in Mt Akina.

'How is that?' he managed to ask.

'Well, my best friend works for Oxfam, you know, a charity organisation based in Oxford, England. You already know I studied my first three years of medicine there. Well, the thing is, Oxfam has an ongoing programme in several African countries and, well, I thought that, since my father clearly wouldn't be leaving the clinics to me, being a girl and all, I would have the freedom to choose where I would work, once I become doctor, that is. Well, the idea was to volunteer in one of these countries. Organisations like Oxfam and Medicines sans Frontieres are truly desperate for doctors to go and work with them. I know it sounds silly, but it's been my dream ever since I decided I would become a doctor.'

'It doesn't sound silly. It's rather admirable that you'd think of giving up the money for such a cause,' Ryosuke said feeling so sorry for Akiko that he almost forgot about what this meant for him.

'After what had happened with my best friend, I tried to run this idea through my father, stupidly thinking that he wouldn't really mind as long as I stayed out of his way. I couldn't be any more wrong though, I then found out that, apparently, he had an entirely different plan for me.'

Ryosuke noticed that, at this point, Akiko seemed to be on the verge of crying. Something within him, probably the protective instinct he felt towards his younger brother, his own cousin and, even towards Takumi and the rest of the Project D members kicked in and it made him take Akiko's hand in his own.

She looked at him stunned. Then, the pain in her eyes cleared away, to give way to the strength and determination he had seen in her before. She also removed her hand from his grasp and said:

'I don't want you to pity me. Don't get it wrong, I'm not the classic poor-rich-girl story, believe me.'

He believed her.

'Okay, so, talking to your father is out of the question but, what about your mother?' Ryosuke asked.

The pain, with even more intensity than before, came back to her eyes.

'My mother died when I was five. Just before I got sent to England,' she answered.

'Ah. I'm sorry to hear that,' he said wanting to kick himself for saying something so meaningless.

'It was a long time ago. I barely remember her,' she explained, almost looking as though as she was trying to make him feel less stupid.

'What happened?' he couldn't help himself but ask.

'Car crash. Something related to the brakes of the car: they stopped working while going downhill and she went down a cliff. The rescue team spent several hours just get to where the car was but, unfortunately, there wasn't anything that could be done for her nor the baby.'

'Baby?' Ryosuke asked startled.

'She was six months pregnant when it happened,' she replied, this time not being able to keep the pain out of her voice.

'Wow. I'm so sorry,' he said, realising that he had once again said something completely pointless.

'The worst part is that she was carrying a baby boy, talk of irony, huh?' she said her eyes shinning and looking dangerously close to burst into tears.

This time Ryosuke decided to remain silent for he thought that anything he said would be definitely out of place then, he saw her shake her head almost as though as she was trying to get rid of those troubling memories.

'So, do you think you can speak to your father?' she said.

Ryosuke considered his answer briefly. It was rather clear to him that she couldn't do anything to prevent this whole thing so, it was all down to him.

'I'm not sure I can do anything either but I'll try my best,' he finally said, something within him realising that he had just made a promise that, unless a miracle happened, there was no hope in hell he could keep.

'Thank you Ryosuke-san. I'll appreciate anything you can do,' she said and, finishing her coffee, she got up and said, 'I must leave now, my father thinks I'm at the library so, I better go.'

'Sure, we'll keep in touch, alright?'

'Okay. Again, thank you for meeting me, let me at least offer you this,' Akiko said and, not waiting for his reply, she grabbed her purse, left a few coins on the table and walked away from him and out of the shop.

Ryosuke observed her going back to her car, climbing into it and, with a swift manoeuvre, leaving the car park. Things had just got a lot more complicated once again, making Ryosuke think that when it came to things getting bad, there was no limit for how bad they could actually get.

And he still had to speak to his brother.

_To be continued…_


	7. Chapter Six

**Programmed Lives - First Stage**

_Chapter Six_

Finally! Keisuke thought seeing Akiko climbing into her 10AE. He had been rather surprised to see her choice of car. Oh well, if nothing else, at least she had good taste when it came to cars.

Keisuke was really upset with his brother. So, his super plan involved becoming friends with this girl? He had witnessed their overfriendly exchange by her car. Whatever next? A candle-lit dinner? Honestly, sometimes his elder brother could be so clueless… Thank goodness Keisuke had already decided he would take care of the situation himself.

For this reason, seeing his brother's FC leaving their house, Keisuke he had followed Ryosuke up to the coffee shop and, for this very same reason, he started his FD's engine to follow Akiko's Mazda.

Watching out for both the incoming traffic and for Ryosuke's FC (not a smart move getting caught by him now) he kept himself within a reasonable distance from Akiko's car. He didn't think Akiko had ever seen his car before but, just in case, he preferred to be cautious.

After just a few minutes, Akiko took a right hand turn and Keisuke followed suit. Seeing her destination he couldn't help himself but to smirk. The library. If this girl was any more of a nerd he'd give his FD up to Kenta.

Not wanting to waste time, he accelerated a bit so as to see where Akiko parked her car and, just as swiftly, he positioned his car on the right side of hers, effectively cutting her off as she climbed out of her Mazda.

Keisuke saw with an almost perverse pleasure that he had scared the hell out of her.

Without stopping the engine, Keisuke turned the hazard lights on and climbed out of the FD quickly enough as to not give her the chance of running away.

'Keisuke-san! You scared me!' Akiko exclaimed, clearly trying to catch her breath.

'I know,' he said and then, grabbing her left arm rather roughly, he pushed her against the side of her own car.

'What are…' she started.

'No, no, I'm doing the talking here. I just want you to listen, understood?' Keisuke said interrupting her.

With her eyes full of fear, she managed a short nod.

He hated himself for doing this, it was totally not his style scaring girls like that. Especially when the girl in question was so damned small, Keisuke knew that he could cause her quite a lot of pain with next to no effort. Thankfully for her, Keisuke wasn't one to go around hitting women. He just wanted to scare her and, so far, he had done a fabulous job.

'Good. Now, I've just seen you sharing a cosy coffee with my brother. What were you doing? Discussing wedding details?'

She shook her head no. Then Keisuke saw something snap in her for she snatched her arm off his grasp and then, trying to stand as tall as possible, failing miserably, she said with a very firm voice:

'No, we were actually doing the opposite. Your brother has just given me his complete assurance that he's going to take care of breaking off the engagement because, just so you know, neither of us is happy with this arrangement.'

'Oh, why is that? You think he's not good enough for you?' Keisuke asked rather viciously. He found himself to be very much astonished because he hadn't expected her to be able to stand up to him.

'No I…' she started still managing to keep a rather firm tone of voice.

'Of course not, because he is, in fact, way too good for you. He'd never be happy with such a, how should I put it? Plain-looking, nerdy little girl such as you,' Keisuke said and, again, was surprised to see that she seemed to remain completely undisturbed by his highly offensive words.

'If you're finished, do you think I could please go on to the library now?' Akiko said keeping her head up and her eyes firmly set on his.

'Sure, be my guest. Just as long as you stay away from my brother,' Keisuke said stepping away from her so as to let her pass. He had to give her credit for being able to keep her composure while facing him in his foulest state. Not very many people were able to do so and Keisuke found it almost admirable that this girl could.

Taking the chance given, Akiko walked past Keisuke and directed herself towards the library's entrance. After a few steps, she stopped, turned round and said:

'Just so you know, I wouldn't go anywhere near your brother nor you even if my life depended on it.'

Then she walked away from him going a wee bit faster than necessary, not giving him the chance for him to reply. Keisuke just shook his head. Well, at least he could now breathe easy. Even though this plain rejection of hers hurt a bit, he didn't give it a second thought. Keisuke was just comforted by the thought that his brother would remain with him. Even if it was just for a while longer, Keisuke still needed his brother's protection and guidance if he was ever to become a professional driver.

As he got back into his car, Keisuke realised just how very tired he was. He hadn't slept in almost twenty four hours and, unless he got back home and into his bed quickly, he would get to a point where he wouldn't even be able to drive safely.

While he drove back to Takasaki he thought of the previous night. Kyoko really was a nice girl. Keisuke couldn't remember being with a girl who made him feel so much at ease with himself. Maybe it was the fact that she also drove, and extremely well at that, an FD. Or the fact that, even though it was obvious she had feelings for him, she didn't quite worship him the way some of his previous girlfriends had done. In short, he enjoyed being with her.

It was true, he hadn't had a proper girlfriend since high school. The ones after that, during his gangster days, were more trophies than girlfriends. None of them had managed to make him feel what he supposed he had to feel in order to want to attach himself to a woman for the rest of his life.

Kyoko, however, was dangerously close to making him feel that way. Unfortunately for her, and for him, if he wanted to be honest, she couldn't have come into his life at a worst moment.

He really needed to focus on his racing career. Time had proven him more than once that if he even dreamed of taking things easy, Takumi Fujiwara would get ahead of him and beat him once again. That was something that, ever since that battle in Mt Akina, he had promised himself it would never happen.

He had a target, a target he shared with his brother: together, with Takumi's help, they would become the best street racing team in Japan. Then, he would start his career as a professional racer.

Only after that he would start thinking of having any romantic aspirations. A part of Keisuke secretly hoped that Kyoko would wait for that moment, although Keisuke was reluctant to admit that to himself, let alone anyone else.

'Oh enough of this nonsense!' he said aloud to no one in particular, 'Great, now I'm even talking to myself. Geez, I really need some sleep.'

He accelerated making his car go way over the speed limit. It was alright, he had already reached the part of the road that led home and he knew it like the back of his hand.

He had just parked his car next to the FC when he saw his older brother walk into the garage.

'At last!' that's all Ryosuke said as greeting to his younger brother.

Keisuke winced noticing the extremely worried look which could be seen on his brother's face.

'Aniki, I…' Keisuke started but he stopped speaking when Ryosuke put his right hand on Keisuke's left shoulder.

'It's okay. I'm just glad to see you're alright,' Ryosuke said, concern clearly imprinted in his voice.

'Why wouldn't I be?' Keisuke said puzzled.

'I don't know. I thought that…well, just forget it. I've just spoken to Akiko-chan. Things didn't go quite as I had planned but it'll be okay. I have already devised a plan B so, don't worry anymore about this. Now, I want you to focus for tonight.'

'Tonight?' Keisuke asked while, motioned by Ryosuke, both Takahashi brothers started walking back into the house.

'Yes. Remember we had to meet to discuss our future plans? I've re-scheduled it for tonight. I've already told everyone. So, now go, have a shower and get some sleep, okay?'

'Sure,' Keisuke said almost cheerfully. His brother was once again acting more like his usual self and they had a meeting tonight for the next race. Things were back to normal and Keisuke couldn't feel any happier.

He went back to the mess he called his room and, without not even bothering to undress, he threw himself onto his bed and fell asleep. His last coherent thought was that he'd have a shower whenever he woke up.

Meanwhile, Ryosuke walked back to his room, left the FC's key on his desk and, as he walked to his father's studio, Ryosuke prepared himself for the speech he'd have to give to him.

Ryosuke swallowed once and knocked on the door of his father's studio twice. He opened the door after hearing his father's deep voice telling him to come in.

'Ryosuke, it's you,' he simply stated after having very briefly lift his eyes from some papers he was reading.

'Yes, father, it's me. I wonder if I could speak to you?'

'Sure, take a seat,' Ryosuke's father said motioning a hand to point one of the two chairs positioned in front of his desk.

'Is your brother back home yet?' his father asked suddenly just as Ryosuke was sitting down.

'Yes, he is, he's gone to sleep for a bit though,' Ryosuke replied.

'Oh well, I really don't know what's going to become of him,' Doctor Takahashi said shaking his head making Ryosuke feel rather annoyed.

'So, what do you want to speak to me about?' Ryosuke's father said both preventing him from saying anything to defend his brother and reminding him of the reason why he was there in the first place.

'Father, I've just spoken to Doctor Arakawa's daughter…'

'When?' his father's sharp tone startled Ryosuke.

'This morning. She called me because she wanted to speak to me and we've met briefly in Maebashi,' Ryosuke really hated his father for making him feel like a five year old. A word from him was enough to make Ryosuke explain himself to the smallest detail.

'She called you?' Sousuke asked in a tone of voice that implied nothing but disapproval.

'Yes, well, the thing is, Akiko-chan's got other plans, apparently she wants to go and work for a charity organisation in Africa but, the most important thing is that she really doesn't want to marry me and well, I have my pride father, I'm not going to marry someone who clearly doesn't want to marry me.'

'Ryosuke, son, you make it sound like you or Akiko-chan have got a choice in the matter. Don't you remember what I said yesterday?'

'Yes I do, father. If it's the license that's worrying you, I remembered this morning that there is someone I know from university whose father is a member of the parliament. I'm sure I could get him to speed up the process to grant us that license…'

'Really? What makes you think I don't have my own contacts? You do realise that it wasn't the license the only thing I was aiming for, don't you?' Ryosuke's father asked lifting both of his greying eyebrows.

'Well, I…' Ryosuke said but stopped after his father made a gesture with his hand.

'Unfortunately, I don't think the problem is the license here. You said Akiko-chan is planning on going to Africa?'

'Yes, she is,' Ryosuke said not really liking the way this conversation was going.

'Now, that's not what Arakawa had told me,' Doctor Takahashi commented more to himself than to Ryosuke.

'I…'

'Don't worry son, it seems to me like Arakawa's got an even bigger problem with his daughter than I have with your younger brother.'

This time Ryosuke didn't even bother to say anything. He sensed that it was better to let his father do the talking.

'In this case, I don't think I'd like you to marry this girl,' he finally sentenced after giving it a bit of a thought.

'You don't?' Ryosuke asked not hiding his surprise.

'Of course not. I don't think this family can cope with more than one troublemaker,' his father replied, 'I thought that Akiko-chan had been brought up a lot better than that. It's a good thing we've found out before the wedding…'

Ryosuke thought that this judgement was way too harsh but, for his own sake, he decided to remain quiet.

'Oh well. Ryosuke, leave it to me. You just concentrate on your studies.'

With this he returned his attention back to his papers signalling to Ryosuke that the conversation was over.

As Ryosuke got back to his room he couldn't feel but to think that, albeit the situation seemed to have been solved rather nicely, some indefinite sensation filled him with anxiety.

Pushing that feeling to the back of his mind, he turned his laptop on to start working on the data for Project D's next challenge.

_To be continued…_


	8. Chapter Seven

**Programmed Lives - First Stage**

_Chapter Seven_

The Takahashi were having one of their family meals and thankfully, for everybody's sakes, the whole Akiko incident seemed to have been left behind. So, while Ryosuke and Keisuke's mother entertained her husband with the latest piece of social gossip, Keisuke listened to Ryosuke's detailed analysis of the races against the Sidewinder Team. A challenge that surprisingly enough, albeit not without a huge amount of effort and a large dose of good luck, both of the Double Aces had actually won.

To Ryosuke, seeing all the members of his family enjoying some time together made him to feel finally relaxed and able to concentrate on his finals.

It had been just over a week since the Akiko crisis and, as far as Ryosuke knew, his father had taken care of the whole issue and, to Keisuke's immense relief, nothing else regarding that particularly painful subject had ever been mentioned.

Ryosuke was about to tell Keisuke of a new type of engine he had read about on a magazine when the name of the girl who had technically been his fiancée for eight short hours claimed his attention.

'Is that so? Oh, poor thing…' he heard his mother say to something his father had just said.

'Well, in my opinion it'll do her good,' his father replied.

Ryosuke interrupted what he was saying to his younger brother and, looking at his father, he asked:

'What is going to do good to Akiko-chan?'

He noticed as Keisuke's gaze switched to look at their father too.

'Oh, nothing,' Doctor Takahashi said, 'Arakawa called me earlier to tell me that, the fact that his disobedient daughter had the cheek to reject you, has not altered your professional arrangements with him. You will, of course, still do your residency at the Arakawa Hospital,' he then stopped briefly and, for some reason, the old man looked at Keisuke and said, 'Arakawa has also confided to me that he's already found a way to handle the situation with his daughter. I should take some lessons from Arakawa on how to deal with difficult children.'

'And tell us, what has he planned on doing, father?' Ryosuke said choosing to ignore his father's last remark and hoping Keisuke would do the same.

'He told me that he's going to speak to one of his colleagues, a widower, to ask him to marry his daughter,' Doctor Takahashi announced making Ryosuke's heart to skip a beat.

'Father, you said a widower, didn't you? How old is this colleague of his?' Ryosuke asked, still trying to keep a normal tone of voice.

'I think he graduated two or three years after Arakawa himself. I reckon he should be around the early fifties,' he replied with complete nonchalance.

'WHAT?' Keisuke exclaimed, overlapping Ryosuke's own gasp.

'Arakawa thinks that Ryosuke was probably too young to deal with the sort of wild spirit Akiko-chan seems to be.'

Ryosuke was completely astounded. Defining Akiko a 'wild spirit' was a bit too much…

'Father, but that's over twice her age,' Ryosuke said, ignoring the way Keisuke was now looking at him.

'Like I said, it'll do her good. This kind of girl needs someone with experience to deal with her. Also, this colleague of Arakawa's hasn't had any children because, apparently, his late wife couldn't have any. I'm sure that, with a young wife such as Akiko-chan, he'll be able to have at least two or three. Arakawa seems to be quite desperate for a grandson, which is understandable, poor thing, the only daughter he has and it turns to be so ungrateful,' his father continued, this time talking to his wife, who limited herself with giving her husband a curt nod.

Ryosuke's disgust was mounting at an alarming rate. How could his father think, much less say aloud, such a barbarity? Marrying a young woman to a man old enough to be her father with the sole intent of getting her to make babies? Ryosuke had to make an almost superhuman effort not to shout at his father while storming off the room. Again, that would be a very Keisuke-like behaviour and Ryosuke's auto-imposed self-control made him able to keep his composure.

Suddenly, he felt someone's gaze on him and, turning his head to his left, he found Keisuke staring at him with a weird look in his eyes.

The rest of the meal was a pretty surreal experience for Ryosuke. A new feeling had started developing within him and, for the first time in his life, he was truly desperate to get to his room so he could think things trough.

As soon as he was free to do so, Ryosuke almost dashed towards his room. He had just grasped the door's knob when he heard his brother's voice calling him.

He briefly considered ignoring him but, knowing Keisuke as well as he did, Ryosuke knew that it would be useless.

'What?' he replied, trying to maintain a tone of voice as neutral as possible.

'Look at me, Aniki,' Keisuke said making Ryosuke realise he hadn't turned round to face his younger brother.

He trained his features so they would not betray any of the turmoil he was currently feeling.

'What do you want Keisuke?' he said finally turning round.

'You may think you're fooling everyone Aniki, but you aren't fooling me…'

'I really don't know what you're talking about, Keisuke,' he said using the tone of voice he reserved for his lectures to his younger brother a tone, he knew, that seemed to intimidate Keisuke. Unfortunately it didn't seem to be working this time.

'Oh you do Aniki. You're feeling guilty for that girl,' Keisuke said, nailing with pinpoint precision the exact feeling which had been bothering Ryosuke up to that moment.

'I'm…' Ryosuke started.

'Aniki, please, don't even try denying it. I may not be as brilliant as you are but I think I know you better than anyone else...'

He was completely right. With the possible exception of his cousin Tsugumi, there was no one who knew him as well as Keisuke. Sadly, his younger brother was also right about his feeling guilty.

'Okay, I feel guilty. So what?' Ryosuke finally admitted.

'There is no reason,' Keisuke said.

'You're wrong. I think there is every reason for me to feel guilty,' Ryosuke contradicted him. He couldn't remember being this angry at his brother before.

'Why so?' Keisuke insisted, probably knowing that he was pushing it a bit too far.

'Look Keisuke, I told father that Akiko-chan didn't want to marry me. He probably told Doctor Arakawa and he punished her for it, she warned me that this is what would happen if she didn't do what her father wanted,' Ryosuke said rather crossly.

Keisuke looked slightly taken aback by his brother display of anger. Keisuke had rarely seen his brother getting angry before, even less having this anger directed at him.

'Look Keisuke, right now I'm not in the mood to talk about this. I have lots of work to do so you just…I don't know, go for a drive or tidy up your room.'

With this, and not even waiting to hear his younger brother's protests, he did something else he rarely did: he entered his room and locked the door behind him.

Ryosuke let out a sigh trying to release all the pent up anger and frustration, failing miserably.

'What have I done?' he whispered to himself covering his face with his hands while leaning against the door.

That night neither of the Takahashi brothers got any sleep and it showed on their faces the next morning when they met at the Takahashi's breakfast room.

'Aniki…' Keisuke started.

'Keisuke, let me at least get some coffee before you start again,' Ryosuke said, his irritation at his younger brother still there even though over eight hours had gone by.

Keisuke realised that and decided to remain quiet throughout the entire meal.

Even their mother realised this and commented:

'Keisuke darling, what's the matter?'

'Nothing, I'm going for a drive,' he said throwing a look at his older brother. Ryosuke couldn't quite identify the emotion he had read on Keisuke's eyes. It was a strange mixture between hurt and worry.

After Keisuke left the room, Ryosuke decided that he couldn't get anything else than a cup of coffee down his throat so, excusing himself with his parents, he decided to get his books and go to the morning lectures.

It wasn't as though as he could concentrate so he took his recorder with him so he would get the lectures tapped so he would be able to understand what had been explained later. That was if he ever regained his ability to focus on anything, other than the immense guilt that had taken possession of his entire being.

Even Tsugumi realised that something wasn't right with him when he went to pick her up from school.

'Ryosuke what's the matter?' she asked after they had, very uncharacteristically, spent several minutes in total quietness.

'Oh, nothing,' he lied.

'Nothing? Then why are you this quiet?' she asked refusing to give up on the subject.

'I'm a bit worried about something, that's all, so, what do you need help with today?' he asked, trying to sound as cheerful as he usually was whenever he was around his cousin.

'Do you want to talk about it?' Tsugumi insisted, completely ignoring his attempt at trying to change the topic of the conversation.

'Not really,' he said deciding to be honest.

'Oh,' Tsugumi said slightly taken aback.

Ryosuke realised that he had probably hurt her and, fearing that he could not cope with any more guilt on top of the one he was already feeling he said:

'Look, it's just a rather complicated matter. I just don't want to worry you.'

'Ryosuke, don't do that,' she warned him.

'Do what?' he asked her confusedly.

'Treat me like a little silly girl the way Keisuke does,' she replied.

'Is this why he annoys you so much?' he asked.

'Yes, but don't change the topic. What's worrying you?' she insisted. This girl was too smart for Ryosuke's own good. Well, he had nobody but himself to blame. After all, he was her private tutor, wasn't he?

Finally giving up, he decided to explain everything to Tsugumi who, after he had finished retelling the whole thing to her, remained quiet for a few instants.

'You know what?' she said as they were arriving at the Takahashi's residence.

'What?' Ryosuke asked realising he was actually asking a teenager for romantic advice and feeling even more miserable for how pathetic that was.

'I think you should think very carefully if you could possibly like this girl. After all, you never even gave yourselves a chance, did you?'

'No, we didn't,' he replied honestly.

'You said she likes Mazda cars and that she's also going to be a doctor, didn't you?' she continued.

'Yes, I did,' he replied not really knowing where she wanted to go with this.

'Well, that's two things you already have in common. Many couples start with even less than that,' she said looking very serious.

Ryosuke laughed out loud.

'Since when are you an expert in relationships?' he asked her, hoping she wouldn't take offence.

'I'm in high school, remember? Relationships are almost all we talk about!' she said.

'Really? Are you in one?' he asked suddenly.

'Oh, Ryosuke, I really, really need your help with history, I don't get the whole Edo period…' she said smiling in a rather cheeky way.

'Now who's changing topic?' he asked laughing again. Being with Tsugumi really cheered him up and, for the sake of not provoking an argument, he decided to ignore the whole subject, not without making a mental note to insist later on. If Tsugumi had a boyfriend he wanted to take a good look at him, maybe a short interrogation too, just to make sure he was right for his adored cousin.

In any case, after giving Tsugumi a lift back to her place, Ryosuke decided to drive around for a bit with his FC. Driving leisurely was something he rarely had time for these days and he sorely missed the times when he was a lot freer from all these pressures.

He truly envied Keisuke. He had never said anything to him, nor to anyone else, but he was truly jealous of his brother. Keisuke enjoyed the best of being a Takahashi without any of the duties it brought with it.

Ryosuke, on the other hand, had known nothing but duties. Was he prepared to do the ultimate sacrifice in the name of familial duty and change his mind about this marriage?

With this thought, he decided to go to Mt Akagi and look for the answer within its sharp corners.

_To be continued…_


	9. Chapter Eight

**Programmed Lives - First Stage**

_Chapter Eight_

He wasn't entirely sure that the answer he had found while driving on Mt Akagi was the right one, in any case, he found himself parking his car in the staff parking area at the biggest of the two hospitals the Arakawa owned in Maebashi.

Taking a few deep breaths, he climbed out of his car and locked the door. Then he made his way towards the hospital's entrance.

Putting on his best smile he walked to the admissions desk and introduced himself to the nurse covering the morning shift.

'I'll see if he can receive you, Takahashi-sama,' the nurse said not even bothering to hide the very obvious assessing look she was giving him.

After a few moments, the nurse hung up the phone and, with a voice that could actually give him a toothache, she said:

'The Director can see you in about ten minutes. I can take you to his office if you wish.'

'No, it's alright. I've been there before,' Ryosuke quickly replied. The last thing he needed now was being assaulted by a horny nurse at nine o'clock in the morning.

He got on the first available elevator and went all the way up to the top floor where, he knew, was located Doctor Arakawa's office. Ryosuke recognised his secretary, a woman in his mid forties, who got up from her desk the minute she saw him.

'Good morning Takahashi-sama, is there a problem with the forms we sent you?' she said referring to the forms he had to fill in so he could effectively become an employee in just a few months time.

'No Watanabe-san, everything is fine. I'm here today due to a personal matter that I need to discuss with Doctor Arakawa,' he explained.

'Ah, I see. You're lucky, he cancelled this morning's appointment because he's expecting a friend of his at quarter past nine,' the secretary informed him.

Ryosuke was going to say something else but Doctor Arakawa opened his office's and said:

'Ryosuke, what an unexpected pleasure, do come in. Watanabe-san, will you get us two coffees, please?'

'Absolutely,' she answered leaving the room.

Ryosuke took the chance to enter Doctor Arakawa's office and to revise the whole speech he had prepared.

'Firstly son, I'd like to apologise to you for my daughter's extremely rude behaviour. I hope this won't affect our professional relationship,' Doctor Arakawa started saying once they were sitting opposite each other with his desk between them and two espressos on said desk.

'Actually Doctor Arakawa, I'm here to discuss the matter with your daughter. I understand from my father that you've found her another possible candidate to be her husband, am I right?' Ryosuke asked making sure his voice was as business like as possible.

'Yes, I have, you no longer need to worry about her,' he answered and Ryosuke could tell that while the man seemed to appear more angry than ashamed of his misbehaving daughter's actions. This only fuelled up Ryosuke's resolution.

'The thing is, I am a very proud man Doctor Arakawa and, whereas at first I found your daughter's refusal quite hurtful, if not offending, I realised now that I could have looked at it under a different light…'

So far his pantomime was being successful. As he had predicted, by using the kind of language that Doctor Arakawa seemed to prefer, he had effectively attracted the older man's full attention.

'Care to explain yourself better?' Doctor Arakawa asked.

'Well, I see it more as a challenge. I think that your daughter was merely doing something that most women do as easily as breathing: she was just playing hard to get. This has made me want to see just how hard it would really be to get her.'

Oh gosh, he could have acted any more out of his character, he would have won an Oscar.

Doctor Arakawa looked at Ryosuke with his eyes full of admiration.

'Aha, not easy on the giving up, are we?'

'No sir. I can't give up so easily. After all, as doctors we can't afford to give up too quickly, if we did, half our patients would die, wouldn't they?' Now Ryosuke was finally saying something he actually believed.

'Sure, sure. That's absolutely right my son,' Ryosuke found almost funny the way Doctor Arakawa kept referring to him as 'his son' but chose to say nothing about it. Seeing Ryosuke didn't say anything, Doctor Arakawa added, 'unfortunately, as you say, I've already thought of another candidate, he is in fact due to come any minute now.'

'I know that but, Doctor Arakawa, have you thought of what would happen if your daughter pulled again one of her stunts? I mean, one thing is my father whom you've been friends with since forever and with whom, any offence is quickly forgotten. Imagine how it would be if you offended this gentleman friend of yours.'

Just by looking at the horrified look on his face, Ryosuke knew that he had him in his pocket.

'That would indeed be a problem. So, what do you propose?'

Bingo. Now he only had to say it:

'I was thinking, I'd take your daughter out for a few meals, maybe to the cinema, you know, a few dates, then I'll see if I manage to convince her to marry me. If I do, well, we get married. If I don't, I'll give up and you can still go ahead with your plan B.'

'Oh but, how long do you think it'll take? My friend's not young and can't wait forever.'

'I was thinking something along the lines of a fortnight,' Ryosuke said.

'I'm sure you can do better than that. I'll give you a week,' Doctor Arakawa replied.

Ryosuke's insides contracted rather painfully: the bastard was actually bargaining with this. Ryosuke simply couldn't believe it.

'Ten days. Give me ten days and your daughter will be the next Takahashi bride,' Ryosuke said, hating himself almost as much as he was beginning to hate the man sitting in front of him.

'Okay then. Shall I call her now so we can give her the happy news?' he said, totally freaking Ryosuke out.

'Now? She's here?'

'Sure she is. For some stupid reason she likes volunteering at the Accident and Emergency Department, imagine that,' Doctor Arakawa said making it sound as though as helping others for free was a disgrace rather than something that should be praised if not encouraged.

Ryosuke had to make a decision in a split second, so he answered the only thing he could:

'Doctor Arakawa, do you think I could have some privacy to talk to your daughter for a bit?'

'Sure, I'll leave you two here alone for a few minutes. I'll take my friend for a tour around the hospital's new section. This way I won't have to tell him that I've called him for no reason…'

With this, Doctor Arakawa picked up the phone and asked his secretary to get his daughter to see him. Ryosuke could only imagine what Akiko would think seeing him there. He only hoped she wouldn't lose it…

A soft knock on the door a few minutes later announced that Akiko had arrived. Ryosuke felt his entire body tense up as he prepared himself for the worst.

'Fath…' she started saying but, seeing Ryosuke there made her shout, 'YOU?'

'Now, now Akiko, Ryosuke has been so kind as to give you a second chance, don't spoil it by behaving like a spoilt little girl…' Doctor Arakawa said definitely not making Ryosuke's job any easier for, after seeing the look on her face, Ryosuke knew that whereas convincing her father had been relatively easy, getting her approval on the matter would be entirely more difficult.

'I'll leave you two alone while I go and meet my guest. You, behave, understood?' Doctor Arakawa said, referring this last remark at Akiko while giving her a foul look.

The second he closed the door, and whispering furiously, Akiko said:

'What in the heck are you playing at, huh? Can I know why in the heck you told your father that I was going to Africa? Do you know what…'

Ryosuke decided to shut her up the only way he thought of: he put his left hand over her mouth and grabbed her left shoulder with his right hand.

'Please calm down for five minutes. Just let me explain why I'm here. Okay?' he begged her.

She snatched her shoulder from his grasp and, after throwing at him a look full of venom, she sat down and said:

'You've got two minutes, and that's two minutes longer than you deserve.'

She was positively fuming. Ryosuke took a deep breath before saying:

'Alright then, this is the deal: I know I messed up when I told my father those things about you. I also know that I've got you into a lot of trouble and for this I beg you to forgive me. I also want to make you a proposal one that, I think, benefits both of us,' Ryosuke said.

He waited for a few seconds to see if she said anything. She didn't and he continued:

'You know that I don't want to marry you anymore than you want to marry me. However, I think I want you to marry a man who could be your father even less than that. So, what I think we should do is to pretend we're seeing each other so we buy ourselves some time to think up an alternative plan. What do you think?'

'Let me get this straight: you want us to pretend we're seeing each other?' she finally asked.

'Yes. That's right,' he answered.

'You're nuts. You're totally and absolutely demented, do you know that?' she asked and, by the way she was looking at him, she seriously had doubts about his mental stability.

'Look, I just think we should try to do anything in our power to try to get some resemblance of control in our lives. Don't you?' he asked now getting a sombre tone of voice.

'Okay, say that I accept. How do you intend to 'pretend' we're seeing each other?' she asked.

'Well, to start with I wouldn't actually mind taking you for a meal for real,' he said realising his mistake just a split second too late.

'You wouldn't mind? Oh, you really are magnanimous!' she exclaimed sarcastically.

'Let me rephrase that: I'm asking you if you'd like to go out for a meal with me,' he said, 'your choice between lunch or dinner,' he quickly added.

Her silence forced him to say:

'The alternative is that you marry a guy who's twice your age. Personally, I don't really think you have much of a choice…'

She seemed to react to that and finally she sighted and, very slowly nodded.

'If you put it this way,' she said.

'It's the only way,' he replied.

'Just answer me something, will you please?' she asked.

'Sure,' Ryosuke said.

'Why are you doing this? Is it out of guilt?' Akiko asked getting up so she could look at him in the eye a bit more easily.

'I'll be honest with you. I do feel responsible for the situation you're in right now but, that's not all,' Ryosuke said, doubtful about whether or not he should be saying quite so much.

'And what else is pushing you to do something so altruistic or, should I say, totally suicidal?' she asked him.

'To tell you the truth, I'm not sure but, a person whom I care a lot about has pointed this out to me: we both like Mazda cars and we're both going to be doctors. Maybe we should give ourselves a chance, shouldn't we?'

She looked at him for a few seconds while she considered everything. Finally, she surrendered:

'Alright then, like you said, I have very little choice in the matter and, let's face it: at least you're good looking…'

Ryosuke felt something he hadn't felt in a long time: he was actually blushing. She realised that and then, as if it were some sort of bizarre blushing competition, her cheeks managed to get a couple of shades darker than his.

Ryosuke cleared his throat before asking:

'Lunch or dinner?'

'I'd prefer lunch,' she replied.

'Alright, well, how about if we meet here, tomorrow at noon? We could go for a drive in my car later on,' Ryosuke said trying to get the situation under control.

'Sure but let's take the drive in my car, okay?' she asked.

'Okay, but I'm driving,' he replied.

'Okay. Now, if you excuse me, I have to go back to work,' she said.

'Sure, I'll see you tomorrow,' he said.

The minute she had left him alone Ryosuke let out the breath he had been holding. He lifted his hands and found them to be shaking rather violently. He didn't know if that was due to all the tension that he had accumulated during the past few days or it was due to the sheer panic he had beginning to feel.

Whatever he had got himself into; this was way bigger than anything else he had ever done.

Ryosuke had never been any more scared in his life. Not even during his race with Rin Hojo.

_To be continued…_


	10. Chapter Nine

**Programmed Lives - First Stage**

_Chapter Nine_

For the second day in a row, Ryosuke found himself parking his FC at the Arakawa Hospital's car park. Even though he had made it with over fifteen minutes to spare, Akiko was already there waiting for him by her car. She had probably just finished the morning shift.

Ryosuke couldn't remember being this much nervous before. Not even during that first date with that girl in his first year of junior high when he had barely known anything about women.

He got off his car and walked towards her noticing that she seemed to be even more anxious than he did.

'Hi,' she said with a short wave of her hand.

'Hi,' he said feeling even more awkward.

A tense silence followed and they stared at each other. Then she did something that shocked him: she chuckled.

'What's so funny?' he asked feeling utterly confused.

'Nothing, is just that, here we are, in our first 'pretended' date, behaving as though as we were two teenagers in their first date ever.'

'Yes, you're right. It's rather silly, isn't it?' he said this time being his turn to laugh softly.

'Alright then, if we are to survive this with some dignity left, I propose we try to be more like our usual selves. What do you think?' she asked smiling.

'I agree,' he said finally allowing himself to breathe easy. Ryosuke decided that he had to try his best to enjoy the date, after all, it had all been his idea.

Just as he had decided the previous night, if during the next ten days they hadn't managed to feel the spark, at least they would have bought themselves some extra time to find an alternative solution to the problem.

Lost in his own thoughts, Ryosuke had not noticed that Akiko was waiting for him to get into her car. As they had agreed the previous day, Ryosuke climbed onto the driver's seat or at least tried for he knocked both of his knees against the steering wheel in a rather painful manner.

'Ooops, sorry, I think you should push the seat backwards. It's set for my height,' Akiko said and Ryosuke noticed she was making an effort not to laugh. Looking at himself he understood why: he was all cramped with his knees crushed between the wheel and his chest. He did look rather ridiculous so he couldn't help but laugh at himself while he felt with his hands under the seat trying to find the lever that would allow him to position the seat a lot further away from the wheel.

'Okay, that's much better,' he said once he found the right setting.

'Definitely. So, where are you taking me?' Akiko said while Ryosuke started the car's engine.

'There is a nice restaurant by the mountainside, I used to go there with my parents and I think you'll like it,' he explained. It had taken only a few seconds to assess that the car hadn't had any modification done to it. It felt odd driving a car that had not been tuned in any way. Just in case, he decided to be careful, after all he was driving an unknown car and it wasn't a good idea to push it more than the strictly necessary.

He incorporated himself to the incoming traffic and was surprised to see that the car's manoeuvrability was actually rather good.

'What do you think?' he heard Akiko ask.

'I like it. It feels a bit weird driving a smaller car.'

'Underpowered, you mean…' she said.

'No, that's not it, this car is rather powerful, if I'm not mistaken the 10AE does 0-100km in 8.4 seconds, a tenth of a second faster than the one point eight litre production engine, that's due to the tighter gear ratios. If driven properly, this is one hell of a sports car,' he explained.

He heard her gasp audibly.

'What?' he asked, wondering if he had said anything that had offended her.

'You know all of that by heart?' she asked not hiding her admiration and making him feel hot on his cheeks all over again.

'Er, yes. I'm sorry. I probably sound…'

'No, no. It's great! Seriously, like I said, I love cars but, I will never be able to store so much information about them in my head…'

'Ah, well, cars are, shall we say, my top interest at the moment,' he explained and, for the first time ever, he felt extremely proud of his extensive knowledge of the automotive field.

'I see. What will you do with that passion when you'll start working at the clinic?' she asked regretting it almost instantly for she saw that she had touched a sensitive fibre.

'I guess I'll have to quit the whole thing…' he said, his voice badly concealing the bitterness he felt.

'Why is that?' she asked.

'Why? Well, I've got to work very hard if I'm to take over the hospital. I can't possibly handle both things, can I? After all I have my duties as I'm the first born,' he said.

She didn't say anything for a bit, limiting herself to stare out of the car's window.

'This is so unfair,' she said after a while.

'What is?' he asked even though he already knew the answer.

'Our situation: you clearly love racing but you will not be allowed to pursue that aspect of your life because you need to take care of your family's hospital. I wanted to do so much more with my life but right now, the best I can do is to make a male heir and condemn him to take over my family's clinics. Sometimes I wonder what my life would have been like if my brother had actually been born.'

Ryosuke found his feelings on the subject to mirror hers. He had also considered many times what his life would have been like if Keisuke had been the older brother. Tsugumi would probably say that this was yet another thing they had in common…

'I'm sorry. Let's just not talk about this kind of things. Tell me more about your racing team,' she said.

He did, they spent the whole meal talking about Project D and about Keisuke's and Takumi's aspirations to become professional racers. Ryosuke also asked her to tell him about her time in England. When she did, she made him laugh explaining to him about all the mischief she had been up to while at boarding school.

Ryosuke really had trouble believing that a sweet looking girl such as Akiko would go around the whole building changing the time in all the school's clocks to skip a math's test that no-one wanted to do or escaping at night time to go to the town nearby.

They got to the end of the meal surprisingly quickly:

'Time flies when you have fun, huh?' she said almost jokingly while they made their way back to her car.

'It's been great, it's rare for me to feel so at ease with anybody,' he confessed agreeing with her.

'Er…thank you, I guess,' she said biting her lower lip and making them feel that the awkwardness was returning dangerously fast.

'How about that drive? Feeling up for it?' he asked.

'Sure, as long as you don't drive quite as fast as your Double Aces,' she said smiling again.

'Oh don't worry, I'll take it easy. Just want to see what this car can really do,' he said pointing at the blue 10AE.

'Okay, but try not to dent it, it is a limited edition,' she said warningly.

'Hey! Do you know who you're talking to?' he said with mock arrogance.

'I'm saying this because I think I know EXACTLY who I'm talking to,' she said laughing.

He laughed with her too as he climbed back into the car.

As soon as they were ready, he drove all the way to the bottom of the Mt Akagi course. Double checking for any incoming traffic, thankfully none at that time in the late afternoon, Ryosuke started driving uphill, doing his best to drift the car using just a single lane.

'Not bad, not bad,' muttered to himself, then added, 'I think I can do better though.'

He felt highly amused hearing a barely repressed gasp coming from the passenger's seat. It was odd, it had been a really long time since he had felt the need to show off to anyone. Something made him want to impress her.

They were coming up to one of the sharpest corners on the Mt Akagi course and, just as Ryosuke prepared himself to drift, he saw Akiko grabbing her seat with both hands.

'If it gets too much tell me, okay?' he said without removing his eyes from the road.

'Are you crazy? I love this! I didn't know my car could do any such things!' she exclaimed happily.

'Is that so? Well, time to get serious then,' he said and, just as he said that, he did a four wheel inertia drift that would have put to shame even the ones Takumi did.

'Wow!' was all she could manage to say causing Ryosuke's smile to widen even more.

They finally got all the way uphill and, turning round, Ryosuke got them back to the bottom of the mountain in no time, drifting almost all the way down.

'I am very, very impressed with my car,' she said once they had arrived back at the hospital's car park. They were currently standing by the vehicle and she was looking at it as if it were the first time she had seen it.

'Thanks,' Ryosuke said with mock hurt imprinted in his voice.

'Oh, I'm very impressed with you too, believe me, is just that I didn't honestly think my car was this good. I guess you were right, it's all down to the way you drive it.'

'So, what do we do tomorrow?' he asked without having actually thought it through.

She looked at him for a second and he saw her smile disappear.

'Look Ryosuke, it's been lots of fun today and I thank you for it but, you don't really need to do this.'

'I know I don't need to, I just want to do it.'

That was the plain truth. He had liked being with her and, something told him that Tsugumi's advice had been spot on. Besides, he wanted to see where this would lead them.

'Alright then. Let's meet up tomorrow after I finish work.'

'I've got a better idea. Tomorrow night I've organised a meeting with my team. Would you like to come to see what we do? Then, after that, I can show you some driving techniques.'

'Are you sure?' she asked, still looking uncertain.

'Absolutely. Shall I pick you up at your place at around seven?' he asked.

'Sure, why not,' she finally conceded.

'Great. Take care driving back home, alright?' he said.

'Of course. Thanks for today,' she said as she climbed into her car and started repositioning the seat so she wouldn't be so far away from the wheel.

'You're welcome,' he replied as she started the engine. She waved at him as she drove away. Ryosuke was still smiling when he walked back to his FC.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to both Ryosuke and Akiko, someone had witnessed the entire exchange. Keisuke had thought it had been destiny which had wanted for him to have parked at a hidden spot in the Akagi course. From there he had had the immense displeasure of seeing his brother driving, first uphill, then downhill, that girl's car with, even worse, said girl sitting next to him looking like she was having the time of her life.

Keisuke waited patiently until his brother's FC had left the car park to start following Akiko's 10AE which could still be seen at the distance.

So, Keisuke found himself for the second time following Akiko and, after making sure his brother had not seen him, he started speeding to get closer to the blue Mazda.

Predictably enough, Keisuke caught up with her just as she had taken a left hand turn to get to a much less crowded road. This road seemed to lead up to an upper class residential area for Keisuke could see a number of houses that looked more or less like the one where the Takahashi family lived.

The road itself was rather narrow but full of bends and it went slightly uphill. Perfect for the Project D's uphill specialist.

After following her through a few corners, and seeing that she didn't appear to have seen him, Keisuke decided that he would announce himself.

Hitting hard on the accelerator within just a corner, he managed to get the front bumper of his FD a hair away from the rear one of her Mazda and, pressing the accelerator just a little bit more, he literally pushed her car making its rear spin off to the side of the road.

This got him exactly what he wanted: she had to stop the car by pressing hard on the brakes.

The little Mazda stopped just a few centimetres away from the guardrail.

_To be continued…_


	11. Chapter Ten

**Programmed Lives - First Stage**

_Chapter Ten_

Keisuke saw Akiko getting out of her car and waking towards his as he climbed out of the FD.

'ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?' she shouted angrily.

'Maybe,' he replied lightening up a cigarette with as much indifference as he could muster.

'You could have made me fall down that cliff!' she cried pointing at a precipice that was indeed mere metres away from the guardrail.

'Oh, really?' he said with a clearly feigned concern leaving her too stunned for words. Then, getting serious, he said, 'I was under the impression that you didn't want to be near neither me nor Aniki even if your life depended on it.'

Akiko swallowed hard trying to come up with something to say.

'So, do you care to explain to me what you were doing just now with my him?' he asked instead, using a rather menacing tone of voice.

She considered her answer for a few moments before replying:

'I think you should ask that to your brother.'

'Why is that?' Keisuke asked still trying to keep up an intimidating front.

'Because it was he who asked me out,' she said.

'I don't think so,' Keisuke said shaking his head.

'Like I said: ask him,' she insisted getting even more annoyed at him.

'I know he feels responsible for what's happened to you but, come on, asking you out is just absurd. Why would he want to go out with someone like you?' he asked in a rather depreciative manner.

This made Akiko lose her temper:

'Look, I don't know. Maybe he is crazy. It seems to run in the family.'

This was Keisuke's turn to remain speechless so she carried on:

'I can't explain the reasons behind your brother's actions. If you want any such information, you should go and talk to him. Now, I'm going to go back to my car so I can go home. Ah, and don't you dare following me or going anywhere near my car ever again, understood?'

Keisuke refused to say anything.

'If you do, I'll get a restraining order against you,' Akiko said then turned round and walked back to her car.

Seeing her leave just pissed him off even more. He kicked the guardrail while swearing viciously. Then, seeing how very pointless that was, he decided to drive back home, breaking every single one of the speed limits he found along the way.

As soon as he reached the Takahashi's residence, Keisuke parked his car and walked straight up to his room. He had just closed the door when he heard someone knocking on it.

'Keisuke, can I come in?'

It had to be one of the first times when his brother actually asked to be let in his room. Usually it was the other way round.

'Keisuke?' Ryosuke insisted.

'Sure, come in…' he finally said.

Ryosuke entered the room and, after making a visible effort to ignore the gigantic chaos that reigned in his younger brother's room, he said:

'I'd like to tell you that I've decided to start seeing Akiko. The reasons are for me and Akiko to know but I wanted to tell you so you wouldn't feel betrayed when you eventually found out.'

'Well Aniki, that's too bad, because I already knew,' Keisuke said. This visibly startled Ryosuke.

'When did you find out?'

'I've seen you two today driving down Mt Akagi,' Keisuke replied, his voice still showing traces of hurt in it.

'Ah, well. I just wanted you to know that tomorrow I won't be driving with you to the meeting at Ibaraki because I have to pick her up first.'

'You're bringing her to the meeting?' Keisuke asked so shocked he even forgot that he was supposed to be angry at Ryosuke.

'Yes, I'm picking her up at seven. I'm sure you'll be able to find the way to Ibaraki by yourself,' Ryosuke said with a tone that indicated he considered this conversation finished.

'Aniki…' he started but interrupted himself when Ryosuke raised his hand.

'Look, I know you don't understand what's happening right now. All I ask of you is to give me your full support. If you can't do that, just let me be, alright?'

'Aniki, I just want to know why,'' Keisuke insisted.

'One day, you'll understand everything, trust me.'

With this he left Keisuke's room leaving his younger brother in a very confused state.

'Shit, I hate it when he treats me like a baby!' he said to no one in particular.

The next day, at around seven-ish, Keisuke got into his FD and, for the first time since Project D had started, he drove to the team's meeting at the bottom of Mt Akagi by himself.

'Where's Ryosuke-san?' Takumi asked the minute Keisuke had joined the group.

'He's coming with his new girlfriend,' Keisuke said, filling his voice with contempt.

'His what?' Takumi exclaimed and Keisuke couldn't help but to smile at the younger man's reaction.

'Yeah, don't ask me to explain it to you because I don't understand it myself,' Keisuke said.

'I didn't even know he had time for girls,' Takumi commented.

'Well, this one was home-delivered,' Keisuke said confusing the poor Takumi even more. The AE86 driver was going to say something when he saw Ryosuke's white FC followed by an unknown vehicle.

'That's her,' Keisuke whispered into Takumi's ear. The young man had only understood one thing, whoever this girl was, Keisuke didn't approve of her at all.

Takumi observed the car parking next to Ryosuke's FC and saw a rather short girl getting out of it. Except for having a really nice long hair, there wasn't any other feature that made her special. Takumi was very surprised to see that someone like her could even attract Ryosuke's attention. The fact that Keisuke didn't approve of her made everything even less comprehensible.

Turning his attention back to the car, he saw that it was a Mazda MX-5. Maybe their fondness for Mazda cars was what they had in common? Takumi asked himself.

He couldn't answer to his own question because Ryosuke and this unknown girl started walking towards them.

As always, Ryosuke's arrival made everyone stop doing whatever they were doing so they could greet their leader properly.

'Guys, I'd like you to meet my friend Arakawa Akiko. She'll be watching our training session tonight so I hope you make her feel welcome.'

Everyone, with the exception of Keisuke, said hello to Akiko and the girl bowed her head in a very elegant and delicate manner. Not that Takumi was an expert, but he could tell that this girl was from a really good family. He then realised that the both the girl and Ryosuke were coming their way.

'Akiko-chan, you already know my brother Keisuke. This is Fujiwara Takumi, the other one of the Double Aces,' Ryosuke said once they reached the spot where the drivers of Project D were.

'I'm pleased to meet you, Arakawa-san,' Takumi said as politely as he could. This earned him a glare from Keisuke to whom Akiko only offered a curt nod.

'I'm pleased to meet you too,' Akiko smiling.

'Akiko, now I need to give my full attention to the team, will you be alright here by yourself?' Ryosuke asked making Keisuke feel very jealous of how much his older brother seemed to worry about her wellbeing.

'Sure, don't worry about me. I'll just try to stay out of the way,' she said smiling at him.

'Alright then. Fujiwara, Keisuke, come with me now,' Ryosuke said, his voice back to his usual, business-like self.

Akiko looked at the three men joining the rest of the crew. She also saw the huge amount of respect everybody seemed to have for Ryosuke. They all listened to every single word he said, some of them even taking notes.

From what she could hear, Project D had just had a race very complicated race somewhere in Kanagawa and, even though the team had won both battles, Ryosuke had not been entirely happy with the results. For this reason he had decided that before they would move on, both Keisuke and Takumi would need to re-run the same route until he'd be satisfied with their times.

After his speech, he issued orders for every one of them and then, taking his laptop out of the bag, he checked some data there and then he went to inspect something in the rear bumper of his FC.

'Arakawa-san, are you having fun?' someone asked, getting Akiko out of her reverie.

'This is my first time in this sort of thing so, I feel a bit out of place…' she replied. The man who had spoken to her had just been talking to Ryosuke.

'I'm Fumihiro,'

'Ah, you're Ryosuke-san's right-hand man, aren't you?' she said.

'Yes. You know me?' he asked sounding a bit surprised.

'Ryosuke-san's told me all about his team. He seems to be particularly fond of you,' she informed him.

'Oh Arakawa-san, you're too kind,' Fumihiro said.

'Please, call me Akiko, everyone does,' she said.

'Alright, so Akiko-chan, have you known Ryosuke for a long time?' he asked. Something told Akiko that Fumihiro wasn't just fishing for information to feed the team's gossip. Akiko also felt that he could be trusted.

'I've known him since we were children but I've been abroad for a long time and we just met again a few days ago,' she explained.

'Ah, I see,' he said then, as he seemed to want to say something else, but Ryosuke called him to his side, 'must go, the boss is calling!'

With this, Akiko was, once more, left by herself. That peace, however, lasted for a very short time for, unfortunately for her, she saw Keisuke walking towards her.

'What do you want?' she asked him a bit more aggressively than she intended.

'Wow, aren't we feisty!' he said smirking then, smirk gone, he added, 'I was just curious.'

'About what?' she asked.

'Why haven't you told Aniki about our meeting?'

Akiko looked up at Keisuke's eyes before replying.

'Two reasons. One: what happened yesterday, and the time before that, is just between me and you. Two: I've never been one to tell tales, I'm not going to start now.'

'So you aren't one of these girls who run to daddy when things get nasty,' Keisuke asked getting a dry laugh from Akiko.

'Believe me, with a father like mine, nothing you could do to me could be considered nasty,' she replied with such honesty that it made Keisuke regret having said that.

He looked at her for a moment, then, shaking his head, left her alone once more.

Akiko looked at him was he was leaving. She felt sorry for the guy, after all, and even though she was an only child, she could understand why Keisuke felt towards her the way he did.

Akiko turned her attention towards Ryosuke and observed him for a while. She had realised immediately how very charismatic he was. He had something that made people feel attracted to him. Geez, even she felt attracted to him.

This thought startled and worried her. There was no way she could afford to have this kind of feelings towards him. After all, Keisuke was right: apart from her father's money, she didn't believe she had what it took to make a man like Ryosuke happy.

What puzzled more than anything was the fact that he seemed to actually enjoy being with her.

That's because you're something new for him, once the novelty wears off, he'll get tired of you, a nasty voice said inside her head and that thought made her feel very upset.

Akiko tried to shake off that feeling when she hear her mobile phone ringing in her handbag.

'Hey James!' she answered in English.

'How are you babe?' the man at the other end said.

'Oh I'm not too bad, you know…' she said.

'Well, you'll be happier when you learn what I'm about to tell you…' James said.

'What is it?' she asked full of curiosity.

'Guess who's coming over to see you?'

'What? No way! When?' she exclaimed happily. She was so engulfed in the conversation that she had stopped paying attention to what surrounded her.

'Next week. Are you going to be free to see me?' James asked.

'Of course silly! I have so much I need to talk to you about,' she said with the sweetest tone of voice, the only she reserved only for those she really cared for.

'Alright then, I'll email you the flight details, okay?'

'Sure. I really can't wait to see you James!' she said.

'Me neither babe, me neither. Bye for now,' he said and with this, James ended the conversation.

Putting her phone in back in her bag, Akiko felt a presence near her:

'Who is James?' Ryosuke asked her speaking in perfect English.

_To be continued…_


	12. Chapter Eleven

**Programmed Lives - First Stage**

_Chapter Eleven_

After a few seconds during which Akiko seemed to be reluctant to answer to his question, Ryosuke said:

'I just want to know if the person you were speaking to is the reason why you were so unwilling to marry me in the first place. I mean, I never asked you if you had a boyfriend.'

Finally, that seemed to make Akiko react: she laughed out loud.

'That's just too good!' she exclaimed still laughing. Ryosuke didn't know what to do nor say.

'Forget it, I don't think I want to know anyway,' Ryosuke said starting to walk away.

Seeing this made Akiko stop laughing. She then grabbed Ryosuke's arm to make him stop.

'Ryosuke, I'm sorry I laughed, is just that James is most definitely NOT my boyfriend. He couldn't be,' Akiko explained, suddenly going all serious.

'Why not? Is he already married? ' Ryosuke asked feeling even more confused than earlier on.

'Oh no, let's just say that it's more likely he'd fancy you,' Akiko said, this time smiling.

'What?' He wasn't understanding anything and what Ryosuke hated the most was to not understand things.

'Ryosuke, James is my best friend, my very gay best friend. He called me to tell me that he's coming to Japan next week,' she explained.

Ryosuke gasped, opened his mouth to speak then closed it again.

'Ah, I see,' he finally said smiling too, 'I think I'm going to go now…' he added still feeling slightly stupid.

'Okay,' she said finally letting go of his arm.

Ryosuke looked at her briefly, then turned round and started walking back to where the Double Aces were.

'Ryosuke-san, will there be any meetings or races in this coming fortnight?' Takumi asked when Ryosuke had reached them.

'Not that I know of, of course, you know we could be challenged anytime though, why are you asking?'

'Well, I…' Takumi said blushing furiously.

'Personal reasons, I take,' Ryosuke said, deciding not to press the poor guy.

'Yeah, something like that,' he replied looking at the tarmac as if was the most fascinating thing in the world.

'Aha! Finally going to see that girlfriend of yours, huh?' Keisuke intervened completely smashing Ryosuke's attempts at trying not to embarrass the hell out of Fujiwara who, predictably enough, became as red as a pepperoni.

Takumi mumbled something incomprehensible before dashing off to his car.

'Really Keisuke, you have the diplomatic skills of an AK47,' Ryosuke said laughing softly and making Keisuke laugh with him too.

Just as suddenly as they had started laughing, Keisuke stopped and looked around himself.

'Where is your girlfriend?'

'She's not my…' Ryosuke tried to deny.

'Yeah, right,' Keisuke said sarcastically.

'Let's get back to work, shall we?' Ryosuke said, only partially annoyed at his younger brother. A part of him actually liked thinking of Akiko as 'his girlfriend'.

Keisuke snorted but did as he was told and followed his brother back to where the team was.

At long last, and after a couple of hours of having both the FD and the AE86 running the familiar Mt Akagi course a number of times with several different settings, Ryosuke was finally happy with the results and decided to call it to an end.

'You got bored, didn't you?' Ryosuke asked Akiko when the team was packing up to go.

'Not at all,' she replied, 'I find it fascinating the amount of work and dedication you guys have. I'm pretty sure that you all work as hard or even harder than most professional racing teams.'

'Yes. We all like what we do here,' he said looking at his team proudly.

'And that's why you'll all succeed in whatever you choose to do,' she commented.

'I hope so,' he said more to himself than to her.

'There is one thing that surprises me,' she said.

'What is it?' he asked.

'Why is it that you use an AE86? Aren't there much newer cars that Fujiwara-kun could use?'

'Oh yes, but that's not a normal AE86 and besides, Fujiwara wouldn't drive anything else…'

'Why not?' she asked.

'He's become too attached to that car, which may become a problem in the future. Thankfully both I and his own father have already devised a plan so he'll slowly realise that he's got to grow out of the 86.'

'I see. You must be tired now, do you want to forget about the driving lessons?' she said.

'Oh no, I'm okay. I'm used to sleep very little anyway. Just let me tell Keisuke that we're staying here, alright?'

'Are you sure?' she said, still uncertain.

'Definitely, I'll be back in a second,' he said and then he walked up to where his brother was.

'Keisuke, I'm going to stay here for a while, you're going straight home, aren't you?'

'You're staying here?' he asked slightly surprised.

'Yes, do you have a problem with that?' Ryosuke said a bit more aggressively than he had intended.

'No, of course not Aniki,' Keisuke said frowning.

Ryosuke could tell he had upset his little brother so he added:

'Keisuke, please…'

Keisuke seemed to think about something then he said:

'Alright. I don't get what you're doing but, again, that's what happens most of the time so, I'll do what I always do: I'm going to trust you know what you're doing.'

Ryosuke let out a sigh of relief.

'Thank you Keisuke, hearing you say this means the world to me.'

Then, Ryosuke patted his brother's shoulder and turned round to walk back to where Akiko was.

'Ready?' he said smiling at her.

'Okay but don't be too hard on me, I'm a newbie, remember?' she said returning the smile.

He laughed and said:

'Come on, let's get into the car.'

Having witnessed this exchange and climbing into his FD, Keisuke thought that he had never seen his brother laughing so carelessly before. Keisuke really didn't know what to think anymore…

'Alright, so, do you have any questions you'd like to ask first?' Ryosuke asked once he was sitting on the passenger seat of Akiko's Mazda.

'Yes, there was one thing: I had my first, and so far only accident once when it was raining. My car aquaplaned and I couldn't do anything to control it.'

'Ah, yes, aquaplaning is a very dangerous and nasty phenomenon. Unfortunately there is very little you can do when the car is already aquaplaning, other than trying to keep the car as straight as possible and hope for the best. However, there are techniques you can use while driving on the rain that will prevent the car from aquaplaning.'

'Well, I'm all ears, because it scared the heck out of me when it happened,' she said.

'I'm sure it did,' he replied and then, and for the next half an hour, Ryosuke held a private lecture about the various techniques and different settings that one could use to prepare the car for adverse weather conditions.

By the time they actually started practicing some of these techniques, the whole of the Project D crew had already headed home.

'You've almost got it now. You're a really quick learner!' he said after Akiko had quasi managed to get her car to do an especially difficult manoeuvre Ryosuke had just taught her.

'All merit goes to the teacher though,' she said smiling at him.

He smiled back feeling slightly embarrassed.

'Can I ask you something?' she said.

'Sure, what is it?' he replied thinking that she wanted him to explain some driving technique.

'Earlier on, when you asked me who James was, well, I…no, I probably just imagined it. Forget it,' she said almost stuttering.

'No, please tell me…' he insisted for a reason unknown even to himself.

She seemed to be reluctant to say it but, gathering some courage, she finally said:

'No, is just that I thought that you were, you know, a bit jealous…'

He looked at her for a bit, buying himself time so he could investigate the sensation he had felt earlier on. Was it jealousy what he had felt when he had heard her become so intimate with that James guy?

'I'm quite stupid, aren't I?' she said laughing nervously seeing that he wasn't saying anything.

'No. You're not,' he replied and then, he added, 'and yes, I don't know if it was jealousy, but I didn't like the way you were speaking to James.'

There, he had finally admitted it.

'But I've already told you: he's just my best friend,' she said and, maybe Ryosuke was getting paranoid but he thought that she actually sounded happy.

'I know that now,' he said almost grumpily making her laugh. Gosh, I love it when she laughs, Ryosuke thought astounding even himself with that thought.

There was no point denying it: He liked her. Finally, after all the uncertainty regarding his feelings, something had made itself clear. He liked this girl. He didn't really know why, but he had just felt the famous 'spark'.

'Ryosuke? You're alright?' Akiko asked sounding concerned.

'Yes. Never been better,' he said and then, he added, 'Akiko, there is something I'd like to do…'

'What is it?' she asked.

'This,' he said and then, without any further warning, he put his left hand on the right side of her face and, pulling her towards him, he touched her lips with his.

At first Ryosuke braced himself for the eventuality that Akiko may actually want to slap him but, seeing that this wasn't happening, he deepened the kiss.

Meanwhile, Akiko's head was a whirl of emotions. She had never been any more confused in her life and couldn't quite believe what was happening. A large part of her just decided to give up trying to come up with a logical explanation of what was going on, the only thing she managed to do was to finally allow herself to relax and start returning the kiss.

Ryosuke felt the instant when she surrendered and chose that moment to become more passionate.

Everything was going very well when Akiko started hearing that little nasty voice in her head reminding her that Ryosuke was just playing with her. That there was no way on earth that a man like him, someone as fantastic and as fascinating as him could possibly be interested in someone as plain as she was.

Finally, her insecurity got the best of her and, moving her hands from his back to his chest, she pushed him away from her as hard as she could.

'What's wrong?' Ryosuke whispered still short of breath.

'I want to go home,' she said with a very small voice.

'Akiko…' he started.

'Please, Ryosuke, I really want to go home,' she insisted and Ryosuke could tell that her tone wasn't one that left any room for negotiations. Trying to regain his composure as fast as he could, he said:

'Alright, what do you want to do tomorrow?'

'I can't see you tomorrow. I'm busy,' she lied.

'Okay, what about the day after?' he asked refusing to give up.

'I don't know. I'll call you, okay?' she said and, something in her voice made Ryosuke realise that something was not right but that insisting would only make it worse.

'Alright…' he said finally surrendering. He then opened the car's door and stepped out of it.

As soon as he closed the door, and without waiting for him to get back into his car, she started hers actually driving away from him leaving Ryosuke utterly bewildered.

He only knew one thing: somehow, he had blown it.

_To be continued…_


	13. Chapter Twelve

**Programmed Lives - First Stage**

_Chapter Twelve_

Keisuke had just come back from one of his drives around Mt Akagi when he realised that there was something there that, given the time of the day, should have not been there: Ryosuke's white FC.

For this reason, he found himself walking towards his brother's room.

'Aniki, are you there?' he asked through the door.

Not getting a reply, he opened it and found his brother sitting at his desk, sleeping with his head lying on top of his arms which were crossed on top of an opened book.

Okay, this had to stop, Keisuke thought. His brother had been behaving strangely for almost a week, ever since the evening of their last meeting. Now, he was found sleeping on his desk, having worn a shirt for over two days and the stubble on his face looked more or less as old as that.

Even his bed was unmade and, whereas for Keisuke a room like this still looked remarkably clean, according to his older brother's standards, things had definitely gone to the dogs.

'Hey Aniki! Wake up!' he said shaking his brother by his shoulder.

'What?' he asked rather gruffly.

'Aren't you supposed to pick Tsugumi up from school?' Keisuke asked.

'Oh bugger! What time is it?' Ryosuke said rubbing the sleep off his eyes with his fists.

'You've got five minutes to get there,' Keisuke said sounding slightly exasperated.

'Bugger!' Ryosuke repeated while trying to straighten up his hair and tuck his shirt in his trousers. He still looked as though as he had been run over by a truck but Keisuke was sensitive enough not to point that out.

'Aniki…' he started.

'Not now Keisuke. I'll talk to you later, I promise,' he said dashing out of the room.

Keisuke realised that he had left his FC's key on the desk and picked it up to go after him. He didn't even need to take one step because Ryosuke got back into his room at that precise moment.

'There you go,' Keisuke said handing the key to him.

'Thanks,' Ryosuke mumbled leaving once more.

Keisuke shook his head. Maybe he wasn't as intelligent as his brother but he could clearly see that the cause of all this chaos was none other than that Akiko girl. Having observed the nervous wreck his brother had become ever since that girl had entered his life made Keisuke's conviction grow even stronger: women could mess a man's minds way too much, he was much better off without them.

Meanwhile, Ryosuke did something else he usually never did breaking the speed limits in a non-race situation. Tsugumi was going to kill him: this was the third time in a row that he was late picking her up.

'I'm so sorry, I…' he said the minute he got to the school's entrance where, of course, his cousin was very patiently waiting for him.

'Ryosuke, stop the car. We need to talk,' Tsugumi said climbing into her cousin's car.

'But…'

'No buts. Now, I've been patient enough, I know something's happened with Akiko and I thought you'd ask me for advice but you haven't and now I want to know what's going on.'

Ryosuke very briefly considered lying to her, telling her that he was tired from studying, preparing the races and filling up the medical reports for his father but seeing the determination in his cousin's eyes, he knew that any excuse he could make would immediately be rejected.

'I'm a mess,' he started.

'That much is clear Ryosuke,' she said completely merciless.

'I just don't know what to do and you know how rarely that happens,' he said. He realised that he could never speak like this to anybody but Tsugumi.

'Okay, tell me what you've done,' she said.

'Me? Why do you think I'm the one who's messed up?' he asked slightly offended. Tsugumi limited herself to lift her eyebrows and giving him a knowing look.

'Alright, I kissed her and I don't think she appreciated that,' he finally said.

'Why? Did she slap you?' she asked her voice full of concern.

'No. She seemed to be enjoying the kiss but then she pushed me away from her and, well, she went home leaving me there standing like an idiot,' he confessed.

'Ah, I see…' she said.

'What do you see? Because I don't get it, I no longer know what to think. I'm not even sure why I like her so much, she's definitely not what I thought it was my type. Nothing makes any sense anymore…' Ryosuke said sounding every bit as desperate as he felt.

Tsugumi smiled in an almost patronising manner.

'Oh Ryosuke!' she said shaking her pretty head, 'you know, when it comes to cars and school subjects, you're the best but, I think that when it comes to feelings, you're totally clueless,' she said starting to laugh.

'Explain yourself,' he begged her not truly appreciating the way his beloved cousin was talking to him.

'Love makes no sense. It's the most irrational thing in the world, Ryosuke. The thing is that when you like someone, most of the time you can't explain why you do and, even if you can, the explanation will make no sense whatsoever. That's why love is such a powerful feeling…'

'I'm not in love with her…' he started saying.

'Not yet, but you're almost there, just give yourself time,' she said very sure of herself.

'In any case, I've blown it. She said she would call me and it's been almost a week since then and she hasn't called,' Ryosuke said.

'Why haven't you called her?' Tsugumi asked him now sounding a bit alarmed.

'Because I wanted to give her some room…'

'Oh gosh! That's the last thing you need to do now. Call her. Tell her you like her and that you aren't giving up,' Tsugumi said, then she added, 'and try to be careful, she probably feels very insecure right now…'

'Why?' he asked Tsugumi.

'Who wouldn't? Ryosuke, you're gorgeous, you're intelligent and you're very popular. For pity's sake, you would make Miss Universe feel insecure!' Tsugumi exclaimed looking positively irritated at her cousin's inability to come up with that conclusion by himself.

Ryouske didn't say anything for he knew that Tsugumi was, once again, probably right.

'Do you have your mobile phone with you?' she asked.

'Yes, why?' he replied.

'Call her,' she said in what looked more like an order.

'What? Now?'

'Yup, I want to see for myself how you get yourself out of this mess,' she said smiling as though as she was enjoying this immensely.

'You're too cruel…' he said miserably.

'Says the man who gives me even more homework than my own teachers,' she commented and then added, 'come on, call her or I'll do it for you.'

Still unsure of himself, he took his phone out of his pocket and dialled Akiko's phone number.

'Hello?' Akiko's voice said just as Ryosuke had started praying so that he wouldn't get an answer.

'Hello, this is Ryosuke,' he said and then, not giving her time to either hang up nor reply, he added, 'look, I know you probably don't want to see me right now but I do. Can we please meet up tonight? I really need to talk to you.'

Then he held his breath while he waited for an answer.

'Alright,' she said.

'Eight o'clock, your place?' he suggested trying to make his voice as normal as possible so his eagerness wouldn't be too obvious.

'Okay,' she said and, something in her voice made him think that she was actually happy about this.

'Good, see you there,' he said and with this, he pressed the button to finish the call.

'See? It wasn't so difficult now, was it?' Tsugumi said triumphantly.

'No, it wasn't,' Ryosuke agreed.

'No homework for me tonight, right?' Tsugumi asked hopeful.

'Only in your dreams Tsugumi,' he said smiling.

'Slave driver,' she mumbled crossing her arms on her chest with an only half-felt annoyance.

Ryosuke was so happy about that night's meeting with Akiko he completely forgot to ask Tsugumi about that boyfriend of hers. He made himself a mental note to ask her some other time. Now he needed to clean himself up a bit.

At eight o'clock sharp, he found himself ringing the bell of the Arakawa's residence in Maebashi. The house itself was just a bit bigger than that of the Takahashi's, the only distinctive thing was the beautifully kept garden at the front of the house.

'Good evening, sir,' the butler, man in his late sixties, said opening the door.

'Good evening, I'm Takahashi Ryosuke, I'm here to see Doctor Arakawa's daughter,' he said.

'Yes, Akiko-sama told me you'd be here. She's waiting for you at the sitting room. I'm to accompany you there, sir,' the butler said.

As he followed the man through an elegantly decorated corridor, he thought this was the first time he entered this house for, when he had picked her up to go to Ibaraki the six days before, she had already been waiting for him down the lane with her car.

They stepped into the sitting room where Ryosuke saw Akiko sitting on one of the dark velvet settees. Seeing him, she got up and Ryosuke took the chance to notice that she was wearing a mid length dark brown skirt and a soft looking cream coloured cashmere top. She seemed to be dressed to go out.

'Akiko-sama, Takahashi-sama is here to see you,' the butler said.

'Thank you, I won't need anything else tonight, so you and the rest of the staff may retire for the day,' she said.

'Alright, have a nice evening,' he replied before leaving the room.

'Where is your father?' Ryosuke asked.

'He's out for a business dinner,' she explained, 'please take a seat.'

He did, hating the formality with which she was addressing at him.

'You look like you were going out,' he commented.

'I was. I am. I've got to go and pick James up from Narita in an hour,' she explained.

'Ah, I see. So we don't have too long, do we?' he said.

'No, we don't, so what is it you wanted to talk to me about?' she asked, looking as tense as ever. That caused Ryosuke's composure to falter.

'Look, Akiko, I've come here today to tell you that I've made a decision regarding us two.'

'Ah,' she simply said.

'We don't have too long,' he said.

'Yes, I know that,' she said, her poise also giving up.

'No, what I meant to say is that because of my stupidity we've wasted six days out of the ten your father gave me to make my decision and now we don't have too long.'

'What do you mean?' Akiko said obviously confused. Ryosuke realised that she probably didn't know anything about his and her father's agreement.

'Your father gave me ten days to manage to convince you to marry me,' Ryosuke knew that those weren't exactly the terms of the agreement but Akiko didn't need to know that.

'What?' she shouted getting up from the settee.

He got up too, only to sink down onto his knee and take her hand startling her in the process.

'Akiko, I know that this isn't the most conventional way of phrasing this but, I like you and I think that with time this feeling will grow to become something more. Your father isn't giving us the time we need to see if that's true but, I'd like to find out nonetheless so, if you think you might like me too, will you please marry me?'

_To be continued…_


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**Programmed Lives - First Stage**

_Chapter Thirteen_

Akiko's only response to Ryosuke's proposal was to sit back on the couch. Ryosuke remained in the very ridiculous and rather uncomfortable pose that had him with one knee on the carpeted floor. He didn't want to move so he wouldn't scare Akiko any further for, right at that moment, the girl looked positively freaked out.

'Why?' he finally heard her ask with a breathless whisper.

Very slowly Ryosuke stood up so he could take a sit next to her. He then took a deep breath so he would have enough air for the lengthy explanation that this whole thing required in order to make sense.

'Look, I know that what I've just said is, at best, the most unromantic proposal ever but, unfortunately, the situation doesn't allow me to do it much better than this. Akiko, we were never given much of a choice really. Your father wants you to get married, it doesn't seem like he's too fussy who with, just as long as you give him an heir,' Ryosuke saw her flinch at that but, for the sake of not losing the thread of what he was saying, he carried on, 'my parents, on the other hand, have always expected me to take over the family's clinic and I recently discovered that marrying you is something that would be convenient for our business too, so they'd be happy with this marriage too…'

'Ah, so that's the whole point then?' she asked finally reacting.

'No!' Ryosuke exclaimed, then returning to a normal tone, he said, 'it may have been at the beginning, when I didn't know you. But the short time we've spent together has made me realise that you may be the closest thing I will ever be from getting the woman I'd like to have by side the rest of my life. You have to agree with me when I say that we have loads of things in common: we both know what being the first born of a rich family really is like, we know what it feels like that, no matter how hard you try, your father will never be impressed with what you do because, after all, for him you're just doing your duty.'

He saw her nod to that.

'We've always put their wishes and expectations before our own dreams, haven't we?' she said.

'Yes, we have. And, on top of that, we even like the same kind of cars…' he said smiling.

'That's all true Ryosuke but, what will happen when you get tired of me?' she asked miserably.

'Why would I get tired of you?' he said puzzled.

'Oh come on Ryosuke! You're a fantastic guy, so popular, so charismatic, so sure of yourself. You're probably used to spectacular-looking girls and I, well…'

'Akiko, once you'll get to know me better you'll realise that, the few occasions I had the time for girls, I never went for the kind of big-breasted, bubbly-headed girls who seem to populate the galleries. I need a lot more than good looks from a woman. I need her to interest me at an intellectual level and that's something you do very well. If the few conversations we've had are proof of it, I think we'll have a very balanced relationship from an intellectual point of view…'

He could see that Akiko was slowly seeing things from his way but, just in case, he decided to use the last one of his cards.

'And I'm not quite so sure of myself either. I shouldn't tell you this and I beg you not to tell anyone ever but, I have been taking romantic advice from a teenager cousin of mine who seems to be the freaking Encyclopaedia Britannica of relationships.'

'What?' Akiko said smiling almost tenderly.

'Yeah, pathetic, I know. Go ahead and laugh,' he said trying his best not to blush Takumi-style.

'No, it's kind of cute of you,' she said, her smile widening.

'Really?' he asked with an expression in his face that Akiko found totally adorable.

She nodded.

'So, what do you think?' Ryosuke asked, insisting.

Akiko took a few minutes to think about it then, realising that marrying Ryosuke was probably the best thing she could do and that an opportunity such as this would never present itself again, she said the only thing she could given the circumstances:

'Alright, Ryosuke I accept. Like you said, this is not the most romantic of proposals but, I think that if we work hard, we can make this relationship work. Also, I don't really have a choice. I mean, you vs. a man old enough to be my father, it's a lost battle for the poor guy.'

Ryosuke didn't know what to say to that. Knowing that she had considered that as a decisive factor didn't help his own self confidence very much. In any case, and for the sake of their newly made agreement, he chose to ignore the whole thing.

'Also, you've got an advantage he never had,' she carried on saying.

'What is that, apart of my good looks and my being about twenty five years younger than him?' he asked.

'Well, this is something I never told you but, do you remember when we were kids and we played together?' she asked.

'Not very well but yes, I do remember, why?'

'I had a bit of a crush on you back then,' she finally confessed.

'What? Really? I never noticed,' he said genuinely surprised.

'I never told you about it but I liked you a lot because, unlike other boys our age, you were really nice to me and never bullied me because I was so small,' she said.

'Did other boys bully you?' he asked feeling an irrational anger towards those boys.

'Yep, I've only recently overcome the fact that, no matter what I do, I will always be short and of small complexion. It used to tick me off because my own father always said that I was a pathetic mousy-looking little girl.'

'He said that?' Ryosuke asked, refusing to believe that a parent could be so cruel to his own offspring.

'Oh, that was a compliment, believe me, he's said much worse things to me. I've grown used to pretty much ignore him and now, I almost thank him for it: it has made me a much stronger person.'

'You had to become strong in order to survive but that's not how a father should treat his daughter,' Ryosuke said, his hatred for her father increasing one more notch.

'Oh gosh, it's almost nine o'clock!' she suddenly exclaimed.

'You've got to go, don't you?' he asked.

'Yes, I do. Do you want to come with me?' she said.

'Sure,' he said, then, having gathered enough courage to do so, he asked, 'Akiko, did you mind so much when I kissed you?'

She looked startled for a second then she shook her head.

'No. It scared me how much I liked it,' she confessed, her cheeks blushing delicately.

'That's good, because if you don't mind, I'm going to it again,' he said and, much more carefully than when they were back in the car, he kissed her again.

When they stopped, he said:

'I just remembered that I haven't brought the ring with me.'

'Oh about that, Ryosuke, do I really have to wear that thing?' she asked.

'You don't like it much, do you?'

'Not really. Sorry, is just much too big for my style,' she said shyly.

'Don't worry, unfortunately it's a family ring that all the women in my family have to pass on to their sons for their brides, but you don't have to wear it. Come to think of it, I've never seen my mother wear it other than in special occasions,' he explained.

'Oh well, that's a relief,' she said so honestly that Ryosuke started laughing.

'Ah, another thing,' she added.

'What is it?'

'I'd like for your brother to come and live with us,' she said shocking him so much that he felt his eyes widening to their limits.

'Why?' he managed to ask.

'Because I think that if you left him with your parents he'd die of misery. I know he's incredibly close to you and, from what I remember, you're the only one who keeps him from going berserk. Besides, he'd hate me to the last of my living days if I took you away from him.'

'Akiko, one day he'll be the one leaving me,' he said.

'Yes, but that'll be whenever he's ready and, from what I've seen, he's very far from that day,' she insisted.

'Do you know what living with Keisuke is like?' Ryosuke asked, just to make double sure that she knew what she was getting into. He was actually very happy she had thought of that herself for, he agreed totally with her when it came to leaving Keisuke alone in such a delicate period of his life.

'I've got a half idea. In any case, I'm not saying that he'd have to be with us around the clock. I think that we could try and get some space within the house to make some sort of independent apartment for him as to give both him and us some privacy. What do you think?'

'I think that this is a splendid idea Akiko,' he said growing every time more convinced that asking her to marry him had been the totally right thing to do.

'Good, now we should really go. I don't want James to arrive and not find anyone at the airport. He doesn't speak a word of Japanese,' she said finally getting up.

'Ah, we're going to have a problem,' he said while they were walking towards the front door.

'What's that?'

'Your car is a two-seater, mine's not very roomy at the back and we're going to be three coming back from the airport,' he pointed out.

'Ah, yes, that may be a problem. Do you feel like driving a sedan for a change, because we could borrow my father's Diamante since he's taken the BMW tonight,' she said.

'Alright then,' he said smiling thinking that if his brother or Takumi saw him going anywhere near a Mitsubishi they'd probably have a heart attack. After all the battles they had with the EVOs, they weren't very fond of that particular make of car.

'After all, if it's you borrowing it, I'm sure he's not going to mind too much. We can always say that you are considering buying one…'

'What?' he said sounding alarmed.

'That's our excuse, there is no way I'd let you buy a Mitsubishi. It has to be a Mazda or nothing at all,' she said firmly.

'Good girl,' he said proudly, smiling again while patting her on the shoulder.

Leaving his beloved FC parked next to Akiko's Mazda, Ryosuke drove down the lane with Dr Arakawa's Mitsubishi Diamante. Ryosuke drove the car as carefully as possible finding it way too big and not very agile at all. Used to the fine tuning of his FC, he found the car not too responsive to his driving style and, for this reason, he found himself driving at a speed that would have destroyed his reputation among street racers irreparably.

'How did you and James meet?' he asked conversationally, also because he wanted to have some background information on the guy.

'I was in my first year of university when I started volunteering at a home for the terminally ill. Toby, James's boyfriend, was one of our patients. He was dying of AIDS and James never left his bedside. I started seeing him everyday there and I talked to him, at first to offer him some sort of comfort, then we ended up becoming friends. I basically became the shoulder where he cried when Toby eventually died. James was doubly devastated because he had been kicked out of his parent's house because they had discovered his and Toby's relationship,' Akiko explained and Ryosuke could read equal doses of pain and resentment.

'You must be very close…' Ryosuke commented.

'We are, he's like the brother I never had,' she said and Ryosuke remembered that Akiko should have had a brother so he understood the double meaning of her words.

'After he pulled through it, we became partners-in-crime, essentially, we went to every single university party together and got into almost all sorts of trouble. There was one night when we snuck into a golf course and, after having downed quite a few vodkas, we challenged each other to see who could find more flagpoles in the darkness.'

'You did that?' Ryosuke said not believing his own ears.

'Oh yes. He won, of course. I found out later on that he had worked there part-time so he knew exactly where all the holes were. Cheater!' she said laughing fondly at the memory.

'And here I was thinking I was marrying a good girl,' Ryosuke said. That made Akiko stop laughing and Ryosuke looked at her worried.

'Sorry, is just that I'm still getting used to the idea,' she said justifying herself.

'I know, me too, I think that's why I want to repeat it as often as I can, it'll make it more real,' he said.

'Yeah, you're probably right,' she said.

They drove the rest of the way to Narita International Airport in silence, interrupted only when she decided to start the radio so the car wouldn't be so quiet.

Ryosuke discovered that she liked Super Eurobeat music for, after finding a station which played it, he saw her moving her right knee at the rhythm of the music. He made a mental note to take her clubbing one the following nights.

'This way,' she said, the minute they had parked the car and were walking to the international arrivals of the airport's first terminal.

James appeared through the doors that separated the baggage claim area from the space where they were just five minutes later and Ryosuke had to make a superhuman effort so his shock wouldn't show on his face.

He didn't really know what he had been expecting but he was as sure as hell that it wasn't that. James was quite a lot taller than he was and much bigger built. He was as big and looked just as manly as a rugby player.

'James!' Akiko cried with her voice full of joy. Ryosuke saw her running to James who dropped his suitcase to pick her up from the floor lifting her a good thirty centimetres off it.

'Babe, it's been too long!' Ryosuke heard him say in English. He could tell that Akiko's affection for James was fully returned by him.

With the maximum delicacy, James put Akiko back on the floor and, pointing at Ryosuke, said:

'Who's this?'

'That's my…,' Akiko started then she looked at Ryosuke with her eyes full of uncertainty.

'I'm Ryosuke Takahashi, her fiancé,' Ryosuke said in his best Cambridge learnt English, finishing the sentence for her.

_To be continued…_


	15. Chapter Fourteen

**Programmed Lives - First Stage**

_Chapter Fourteen_

After a brief silence during which James looked at Ryosuke studying him carefully, he said to Akiko:

'Wow Aki, when did this happen? Because last time I spoke to you, you didn't even mention having a boyfriend, let alone having been proposed marriage.'

'I know, I'm sorry, is just that, it's been quite sudden and I haven't had the time to tell you yet,' she explained.

'I just proposed to her,' Ryosuke added, not wanting to be excluded from the conversation.

'Ah, I see. That's why you still haven't got a ring,' James commented making Akiko cover her left hand with the right one, 'and tell me, what does your father think of all of this?' he asked.

'Ryosuke is the son of one of his friends,' she explained and that made him take another look at Ryosuke.

'I understand now, so this is all your father's doing,' he commented, his voice full of disapproval.

'At first yes, but now I'm happy about it. You don't need to worry,' she assured him.

'Can't do that, I'm afraid I'll always be worried about you my dear baby sister,' he said patting her shoulder affectionately.

'What brings you to Japan, James?' Ryosuke said trying to change the subject of the conversation.

'A conference, the organisation I work for needed someone to go to Tokyo and, knowing that Aki was here I volunteered for it.'

'You must need to get some rest then, we'll better take you to the hotel,' she said.

'You want to get rid of me already? I just arrived!' James complained with mock offence.

'No, is just that…' she said biting her lower lip.

'I know, you probably need to go and celebrate your engagement in private,' James said making Akiko's cheeks turn a very deep shade of red, 'don't worry, I understand. But tomorrow night you're all mine. Can't wait for you to show me what a Japanese nightclub looks like.'

'That can easily be arranged,' she said, this time smiling.

'Your fiancé is welcome to join us, of course,' he said bowing his head towards Ryosuke.

'We can go to the place my brother usually goes,' Ryosuke suggested.

'Sure, wherever you want, I'm not fussy as long as the music is good,' he said and then he said repressing a yawn, 'Aki, I think you're right, I could do with a long shower and eight hours of sleep somewhere where I can stretch my legs properly.'

They were heading towards the car when James put a hand on Ryosuke's shoulder as to make him fall back and, whispering so Akiko would not be able to hear them, he said:

'Ryosuke, you look like a decent enough chap to me but, I consider Akiko a sister, she was there for me when no one was, not even my family. This may sound like a cliché but, if you hurt her in anyway, I'll beat the crap out of you first and ask questions later, understood?'

'Loud and clear,' Ryosuke replied refusing to be intimidated by a guy who indeed looked like he could deliver what he had just said.

'Good, then I think we'll be good friends,' James said passing his arm around Ryosuke's shoulders making him feel a tad uncomfortable.

Akiko, realising the two men had left her alone, turned round and said:

'James, don't start with him too. Ryosuke, I'm sorry, he likes teasing people like that…'

James removed his arm from Ryosuke's shoulders and complained:

'You're not fun Aki,' then he walked towards her leaving Ryosuke behind.

Ryosuke was only too happy when they left James at his hotel in Tokyo, not before arranging to meet up to go clubbing the following night.

When they arrived at the Arakawa's house, Akiko's father had not arrived yet. All the better, Akiko thought, this way they wouldn't have to explain the reason why they had taken the Diamante all the way to Narita and back.

'When do you think we should tell the parents?' he said as he opened the door of his FC.

'I don't know, the sooner the better I think,' she replied.

'Alright, what about tomorrow night before we go clubbing?' he suggested.

'Fine by me, why don't you all come for dinner here? This way we'll only have to make the announcement once,' she proposed.

'Good idea. Seven?'

'Seven,' she agreed.

'Okay. See you tomorrow then,' he said and then, just before climbing into his car, he kissed briefly on the lips.

She simply nodded and, as he pulled towards the lane, he saw her waving him goodbye.

I'm an engaged man now, Ryosuke thought as he made his way back to Takasaki. If anyone had told him that in less than two weeks he'd go from being a free agent to be a soon-to-be-married man he would have laughed at the very idea.

He only hoped this wasn't all a horrible mistake.

Not much later, Keisuke heard a knock on his door.

'Keisuke, are you there?' he heard Ryosuke ask.

This had to be one of these things that had something to do with some bizarre planet alignment: his brother asking to be let in his room twice in a row, whatever next? Snow in the middle of August?

'Come in Aniki,' he said and his brother opened the door, again ignoring the general chaos, and tried to find an empty chair for him to seat down. Not a good sign, Keisuke thought.

'I need to tell you something,' Ryosuke stating the very obvious to Keisuke. The younger Takahashi chose not to point that out.

'What is it?' he asked bracing himself for whatever was to come.

'I've asked Akiko to marry me,' Ryosuke said with a very steady voice.

Keisuke jumped off his bed to stand up to Ryosuke.

'I knew it! I just knew it!' he shouted while pointing his finger accusingly at his brother, 'what happened to 'I have a plan, Keisuke', 'Don't worry, everything will be fine Keisuke'? What happened to that?'

'And I'd like you to come and live with us when we'll get married,' Ryosuke added, completely ignoring the display of anger from his younger brother.

'You what?' Keisuke asked, his anger giving quickly way to the biggest astonishment possible.

'I want you to live with us, if you want,' Ryosuke repeated patiently.

'Why?' Keisuke asked, still too stunned to form coherent sentences.

'Because I don't feel like leaving you here at this stage of your formation as a professional racer,' Ryosuke explained.

'What does that girl think of all of this?' Keisuke finally managed to ask, putting the maximum amount of contempt in the words 'that girl'.

'This is Akiko's idea, I just happen to agree with her,' Ryosuke explained making Keisuke's jaw fall leaving him open-mouthed, 'so, do you want to come and live with us or not?' Ryosuke insisted.

'Won't I be on the way? I don't want to be a third wheel,' Keisuke asked after having regained the ability to speak once again.

'No, Akiko thinks we could make a small apartment within the house so you have your privacy,' Ryosuke explained.

'I don't know what to say,' Keisuke said. This girl was either too good to be true or else she had some secret agenda. This made Keisuke feel very edgy about the whole thing.

'Well, mull it over and let us know. We'll announce it tomorrow night at the Arakawa's where we're all invited for dinner, if you want to join us that is,' Ryosuke said and, getting up, he said, 'ah, Keisuke, do you have the address of that nightclub you usually go?'

'Of course, why?'

'Akiko's best friend has just arrived to Japan and wants to go clubbing tomorrow night after dinner.'

'Ah, I see. Can I come with you?' Keisuke said thinking that this would be a good chance to speak to Akiko so he would find out what on earth that girl was planning.

'Sure. Actually, I'd feel better if you're there,' Ryosuke thought thinking of the not-so-friendly way in which James had spoken to him earlier.

'Great,' Keisuke said.

'Good night Keisuke,' Ryosuke said smiling so cheerfully that Keisuke couldn't help but to think that maybe his brother was truly happy about the whole thing.

Feeling extremely confused by this latest turn on the events, Keisuke threw himself back on his bed and started thinking.

His beloved Aniki was about to get married. He just couldn't believe it.

Then, as if something had clicked into place, he had one of his brilliant ideas.

'Of course! I'll need a second opinion,' he said aloud while looking for his mobile phone.

After finding it underneath a pile of clothes, he selected a number from his contacts list.

'Hello?' a sleepy voice replied at the other end.

'Oops, sorry, where you sleeping?' he asked looking at his watch.

'Yeah, it's one o'clock in the morning Keisuke.'

'I'm sorry Kyoko is just that I really needed to speak to you,' he said.

'Okay, I'm awake now, what can I do for you?' Kyoko's voice replied sounding extremely happy to hear that her darling needed to speak to her.

'Aniki has just told me he's getting married,' he said.

'What?' Kyoko shouted and, from what he could hear, she had jumped out of her bed too.

'Yeah, I know, shocking, huh?'

'Yes! Is that Akiko girl?' she asked.

'Yeah. tomorrow they'll be announcing it to our parents and then we're going clubbing to celebrate. The thing is that according to Aniki, Akiko wants me to move in with them whenever they get married. I'm very happy to be able to leave this house with him but, I can't help thinking that she's got some sort of weird plan in her mind…'

'Why would she do that?' Kyoko said trying to be careful so her scepticism wouldn't be very obvious.

'I don't know, the thing is, I'd like for you to meet her, talk to her and then tell me what you think. You know, among women you understand things about each other that we men can't see…'

'You're asking me to go out tomorrow with you?' she asked, just to make sure she had understood the concept.

'Well, if you're not busy. I really need your opinion on this,' he explained.

'Sure. Just tell me when and where,' she said, this time not bothering to hide how very happy she was.

'Do you know the club Down Beat in Maebashi?' he asked.

'Yes, it's a pretty famous one,' she replied.

'Okay, let's meet there at around 11 o'clock, okay?'

'Sure,' she said.

'Thanks Kyoko, I really appreciate this,' he said.

'No problem,' Kyoko replied, Keisuke didn't realise this but the poor Kyoko was actually making a titanic effort trying to remain as steady and coherent as possible but, if Keisuke could have seen her at that moment, he would have seen Kyoko standing up, holding her phone with a very shaky hand and covering her neck with the other one while trying to remember how to breathe.

'Good night Kyoko,' he said and, as he hung up the phone, he could have sworn he had heard Kyoko's scream of sheer joy.

For some unknown reason, that made him smile.

_To be continued…_


	16. Chapter Fifteen

**Programmed Lives - First Stage**

_Chapter Fifteen_

Following his parents' Mercedes, on their way to the Arakawa residence, Ryosuke found himself, once more, driving at a ridiculously low speed, so slow in fact that even the FC's engine seemed to complain about it.

'Geez, what's wrong with the old man!' Keisuke said from the passenger's seat, voicing Ryosuke's own thoughts.

'Nothing, he's just that: old,' Ryosuke said laughing.

'Oh well, at least it's you the one doing the driving. My FD would fall asleep if I drove this slowly…'

'Thank you for this Keisuke.'

'Ah, don't mention it. I always enjoy in when you let me ride in your car. Besides, you needed an excuse so Akiko can take her own car to pick that James guy up from Maebashi's station,' Keisuke replied.

The youngest of the Takahashi spent a few moments observing his brother. He definitely looked better.

'Are you nervous?' he asked Ryosuke.

'A bit,' Ryosuke confessed, then, behaving more like himself, he added, 'but I'm confident everything will work out. After all, all of this happened because of father and Doctor Arakawa. If you come to think of it, we're just doing exactly what they wanted from us in the first place,'

'Yeah, that's right,' Keisuke agreed before adding, 'I've been thinking of what you asked me last night,'

'Uh-huh,' Ryosuke said egging him on to continue.

'Well, it seems like a good idea. This way I'll be able to keep an eye on that girl,' he said.

'No need for that Keisuke. I trust her.'

'You do?' Keisuke asked not hiding his surprise.

'I do. I'm not going to go too deep into this but I know that she's got the best intentions when it comes to you.'

'You describe her as though as she was some sort of saint,' Keisuke commented.

'Believe me, she's not a saint, but she knows a thing or two about living with an over controlling father.'

Keisuke didn't say anything to that.

When they finally arrived at the Arakawa's residence, the butler took them directly to the sitting room where both Dr Arakawa and Akiko were waiting for them.

'Do you know what the meaning of all of this is?' Doctor Takahashi asked his colleague after exchanging the usual pleasantries.

'I've got a vague idea,' Doctor Arakawa said smiling contentedly. Akiko exchanged a brief look with Ryosuke and, the way she smiled at him made him think that Doctor Arakawa wouldn't be smiling for much longer.

'Shall we go to the dinning room?' she said.

As it was convened in these occasions, they filled the entire time that the meal lasted with small talk, reserving the main topic of conversation for after the dessert had been served.

Then following the established pattern, Ryosuke got up and, picking up a fork he softly rapped his glass.

'May I have your attention, please?' he said in his most formal voice.

Keisuke looked at Doctor Arakawa who now looked as a cat after catching a mouse.

'Father, Doctor Arakawa, Akiko and I have had some time in the past few days to get to know each other and we've decided to accept the agreement you proposed.'

His father gasped while his mother limited herself to look at Akiko with a motherly smile.

'Are you sure you aren't going to change your mind again?' Sousuke asked his son but, for some reason, had directed his gaze towards Akiko.

'Yes, we are sure,' Ryosuke replied then, looking at Akiko and then at his own brother, he added, 'however, we have some requests.'

'And what are they?' Doctor Arakawa asked, his smile beginning to falter.

'Well, one is that we'd like the wedding to be organised directly by us. We'd like an intimate ceremony, just close family and a few friends,' Ryosuke said.

'And?' Doctor Arakawa insisted seeing that Ryosuke was far from having finished.

'The other one,' Ryosuke said, this time looking at his parents, 'is that we'd like Keisuke to move in with us. Clearly, he'd be living in his own apartment, one that we'd make out within the house itself.'

His parents seemed to consider this and, taking by surprise both the Takahashi brothers and Akiko herself, Doctor Takahashi said:

'That sounds reasonable. After all, ever since he started junior high, he's been completely out of our control. I think it's better if he remains under your supervision, as long as your future wife doesn't mind.'

'Not at all, Doctor Takahashi, both your son and I agree that this is the best solution,' Akiko said.

'Oh well, then, that's sorted. Shall we toast to the engagement?' Sousuke said looking almost relieved to see that, he had managed to conclude a very propitious agreement at the same time than removing what he had considered his biggest problem at home.

'Not so soon,' Akiko said, this time getting up as well. Ryosuke looked at her confusedly.

'What is it?' Doctor Takahashi asked looking almost afraid of what this girl, a troublemaker in his books, would come up with.

'Well, the thing is, I've had the chance to see how very professional Ryosuke is with his racing team and, I have a proposal for you all.'

'Akiko…' Doctor Arakawa said admonishingly. Akiko just ignored him and carried on:

'You two know how very hard dealing with the hospital's administrations is. From the medical point of view, the training Ryosuke and I will have to go through is something we can do anytime at any of the three hospitals. However, Ryosuke would have to acquire the knowledge to manage the hospitals through any of you two. Unfortunately, I doubt that you'll have the time to ensure he gets a proper training.'

'I fail to see what this has anything to do with racing,' her father said.

'Father, in the racing world, the biggest challenge is not winning the races, is getting and keeping the sponsors for your team. I think that this is an excellent training field for Ryosuke to learn to deal with your investors.'

Ryosuke and Keisuke looked at her finally understanding what she was getting to. Ryosuke felt a warm sensation in his chest: this girl was definitely something special. He decided to let her do the talking.

'Father, you and Doctor Takahashi won't even consider retiring for at least ten or fifteen more years. By then Ryosuke will have more than fulfilled his dreams in the racing world and will be more than ready to take the hospitals over from you.'

'Are you saying that we won't be able to count on him for the next ten years?' Dr Takahashi asked.

'Not in the slightest. He'll need to start his residency as soon as we sit our finals. What I'm saying is that you should let him off his duties as the future director of both the Arakawa and Takahashi Groups. This way I think he'd have the time to pursue his aspirations within the racing world, acquiring some very valuable knowledge in the process. Either way, you win.'

Both doctors looked at each other.

'What about an heir for the Arakawa Group?' Doctor Arakawa asked.

Akiko looked briefly at Ryosuke and for the shortest of moments she seemed to lose her composure. Then, after taking a deep breath to steady herself, she said:

'That's my job, isn't it?'

Only Ryosuke seemed to perceive a very small amount of bitterness in her voice.

'Alright then,' Doctor Arakawa said.

'Five years Ryosuke. We give you five years to do whatever you please with your cars. After that, you'll have to apply yourself to the management of the hospitals,' Sousuke said looking at his son.

'Fine,' Ryosuke said feeling happier than he had ever been in his life: he got to become a doctor without having to give up his dream.

'Son, are you sure you'll be able to cope with the residency and the racing?' Kinue Takahashi asked concernedly.

'Yes, I will. So far I've managed to cope with it on top of university and helping father, haven't I?'

'Yes, but this time you'll also have a wife to take care of.'

'A wife who'll do her best to help him,' Akiko said firmly.

Not being able to argue anything else, the two doctors found themselves having to agree.

'Now, with your permission, I think we have plenty to celebrate tonight, so we're going to go out,' Ryosuke said.

'Alright, we have business to discuss anyway,' Doctor Arakawa said.

'Drive carefully,' Kinue said making both Ryosuke and Keisuke smile.

'You're amazing,' Ryosuke said the minute he, Keisuke and Akiko entered the Arakawa's garage.

'Not really, is just that for the first time in his life, my father has to listen to what I have to say.'

'Well, I'm very impressed,' he said.

She shrugged her small shoulders and said:

'I just hated to think that you'd have to give up something you obviously love more than anything in the world,'

'What about your dream?' Ryosuke said.

'I think I'm living it,' she said then she turned round and, opening her 10AE's door, she climbed into it and started its engine.

Ryosuke took the hint and he and Keisuke got into the FC.

'Aniki, I'm not going to complain about Akiko-san ever again,' Keisuke said once they were on the road, following Akiko's car.

'Since when do you have so much respect for her?' Ryosuke asked, surprised of his brother's sudden change of mind.

'She has more than earned it: she's managed to allow you to carry on with Project D and whatever you want, she doesn't want to split us up and, if you ask me, if she isn't in love with you, she's awfully close to it.'

Ryosuke chose not to say anything to that confirming Keisuke's theory that his older brother, too, was slowly falling in love with Akiko.

After a short detour to pick James up from Maebashi's train station, the two Mazdas arrived at the club's car park where, to Keisuke's immense pleasure, Kyoko was already waiting for them inside her black FD.

Once they were all five of them together, it was introduction time. Keisuke, putting his hand on Kyoko's shoulder, he said:

'Kyoko, this is Aniki's fiancée Arakawa Akiko and I take this is her friend James and, just in case you don't remember him, this is my brother Ryosuke.'

'Oh of course I remember him! It's a real pleasure meeting you Arakawa-san,' she said and then, making a visible effort, she said in what she hoped was correct English, 'welcome to Japan, James.'

James laughed and tried, failing miserably, to say 'thank you very much' in Japanese.

'Oh well, I tried,' he said in English to Akiko while walking to the club's entrance. Akiko laughed softly knowing that James would take no offence.

Thanks to Keisuke's connections, they skipped the club's queue and got immediately inside where, to Akiko's immense pleasure, the DJ was playing a selection of the best Super Eurobeat tunes.

'Nice music!' James shouted in her ear.

'It is, let's go and dance!' she replied smiling.

'With your permission,' he said to Ryosuke who, not really liking dancing to that kind of music, limited himself to nod at James.

Kyoko and Keisuke remained with him until Kyoko said to her darling:

'Do you want to join them?'

To her immense displeasure, he shook his head no.

'Alright then, I'll go by myself,' she said walking towards where James and Akiko were dancing, having the time of their lives. Soon James started dancing with the two girls.

'Are you sure he's gay?' Keisuke asked Ryosuke who, on their way to the club had informed his brother about the Englishman's sexual tendencies.

'Positive, don't worry, he's not going to make a move on Kyoko,' Ryosuke replied.

'Who's worried?' Keisuke said a tad too defensively.

'You should be. Keisuke, Kyoko is a very good looking girl and she's not going to wait for you forever.'

'What?'

'I'll put it in a way that you'll understand it: if you don't make your move soon, someone's going to get ahead of you and steal her away from you.'

'Aniki, you know what I think about having a girlfriend right now…'

'I know Keisuke: you think that you won't be able to focus on your racing career if you have a girlfriend. You've been very honest with me in these past few days and now I'm going to do the same with you: in my opinion, you're using the racing as an excuse because it scares the hell out of you the way she makes you feel.'

'Speaking from first hand experience?' Keisuke said almost sarcastically.

'Maybe,' with that, Ryosuke left his brother alone as he went to get a soda from the bar.

_To be continued…_


	17. Chapter Sixteen

**Programmed Lives - First Stage**

_Chapter Sixteen_

Ryosuke was finishing doing his tie up when his brother knocked on his door.

'Aniki, are you ready?' he said, opening the door and stepping into the room. He observed his brother while his brother combed his hair. Keisuke thought that his brother looked extremely handsome in his formal attire.

'Yes,' Ryosuke said examining himself on the mirror just to make sure that everything was alright.

'Nervous?' Keisuke said taking his usual place sitting on of his brother's bed, a bed that no longer would be used after that day.

'Not really. I thought I'd be tough, but I was a lot more nervous during my finals,'

'Yeah, you're a doctor now,' Keisuke commented looking at his brother admiringly.

'Yes, and you're on your way to become a professional racer,' Ryosuke said.

'Not yet. We still have one more challenge with Project D,'

'I know, I'm looking forward to that but it'll have to wait till Akiko and I come back from our honeymoon,' Ryosuke said.

'Alright, let's go,' Keisuke said getting up from the bed.

'You've got the rings, haven't you?' Ryosuke asked.

'What rings?' Keisuke replied and, seeing Ryosuke's panicked expression, he said, 'just kidding Aniki! I thought you weren't nervous…'

'Ha, ha, very funny,' Ryosuke said sarcastically, then he added, 'let's go or Akiko will get there before I do.'

The ceremony started just ten minutes after it had been scheduled and Ryosuke had to repress a gasp of surprise when he saw how beautiful Akiko looked in her very simple but elegant wedding dress.

Kyoko was walking behind her acting as bridesmaid. The two girls had become quite good friends during these past few weeks and it hadn't been a surprise when Akiko, who didn't have any other girlfriend of her same age, had asked Kyoko to assist her at the wedding.

Ryosuke saw that his younger brother was looking at Kyoko with the same admiration he himself had had for his wife-to-be. This reminded him he needed to give a good smack to Keisuke for not having asked Kyoko out yet.

Takumi was there along with the rest of Project D's crew and Ryosuke couldn't help but to think that, all in all, he was lucky to be able to have so many good friends around him on this very important day.

Finally, after the ceremony, the now Mr and Mrs Ryosuke Takahashi welcomed everyone to the reception.

'You came all by yourself?' Keisuke asked Takumi sometime before the meal.

'Yep,' Takumi replied.

'What about that Natsuki girl?' Keisuke asked teasingly.

'There is no Natsuki girl anymore. We're just friends,' he said.

'Ah, I see…'

'Now there is a Mika girl though,' Takumi said nonchalantly.

'What? When did that happen?' Keisuke asked.

'Do you remember those two who pretended to be us?' Takumi asked.

'Yes,' he replied.

'Well, I kind of met her because of them. We've been seeing each other since then.'

'I can't believe it! You sure fool everyone with that innocent look of yours,' Keisuke said laughing.

'What about you?' Takumi asked.

'What about me, what?' Keisuke said pretending not to understand the question.

'What's the story with Kyoko-san?' Takumi asked shocking Keisuke even more. It was very rare of Takumi to pry into people's lives like that.

'When are you going to race your dad?' Keisuke asked, desperate to avoid a topic he wasn't quite ready to face.

'Never, but you're avoiding the topic,' Takumi said, not easily fooled.

'Never? Why not?' Keisuke insisted.

'Because I'm afraid I may beat him,' he said without a trace of arrogance.

'What?' Keisuke asked almost shouting then, reassuming a normal tone of voice, he said, 'Takumi, I know you're good but, come on, your old man is an institution. No man alive can beat him.'

'I might and that's why I don't want to race him. That and the fact that if I did beat him I'd lose my motivation to keep on racing.'

'Why is that?' Keisuke asked.

'Because, deep down, no matter whom I race against, I always keep chasing him. If I race him and I beat him, then I won't have anyone left to chase.'

Keisuke looked at Takumi and was surprised to see that the young man wasn't being full of himself or anything like that. He was being completely honest. This was one of the things about Takumi that puzzled Keisuke and the reason why, to him, Takumi would always be some sort of enigma.

'In any case, you're still avoiding my question,' Takumi said but then, as an afterthought, he added, 'oh well, it's none of my business. I'll tell you this though: my relationship with Natsuki didn't go anywhere because I didn't act on my feelings soon enough. Don't make the same mistake.'

With this Takumi left a very startled Keisuke to go and speak to his car's mechanic. Keisuke then looked for Kyoko who was chatting happily with Akiko. The girl, sensing that she was being observed looked at him and, for a few instants it seemed to Keisuke like the world had stopped.

Okay so, he was in love with her. There, he had admitted it to himself but there was no way he could act on it. No matter what his Aniki or Takumi said, he had to focus all his energies on his racing career and he really had no times for girls. No matter how beautiful, funny, smart…

'Oh! Stop it!' he said aloud startling a few of the wedding's guests who clearly thought that the poor guy had lost his marbles.

After the meal the bride and groom opened the dances and, after the newly married couple had had their first dance together, Keisuke saw Kyoko walking up to him.

'So, shall we dance?' she said.

'What?' Keisuke asked very surprised.

'You're the best man, I'm the bridesmaid, it is customary that we dance together, isn't it?' Kyoko asked trying her best not to look as hurt as she felt.

'Alright then,' Keisuke said letting her lead him towards the dance floor where a few couples had already joined Ryosuke and Akiko.

'She's so beautiful…' Kyoko commented while they danced to a slow tune.

'Who?'

'Akiko,' she explained, 'they look truly happy. I'm really glad for them, I know they didn't have a very easy start but something tells me they're going to be happy together.'

'Yeah, probably,' Keisuke agreed and then, seeing her dreamy expression he said before he could stop himself, 'what is it? Do you want that too?'

Kyoko looked at him stunned, then she shook her head and said:

'No. I stopped dreaming about this a long time ago.'

The hurt in her voice made Keisuke's heart shrink painfully inside his chest.

'Kyoko…' he started.

'Oh! I know, alright! I get it!' she said and then she made a strange sound and, snatching herself from his arms, turned round and started running away.

Keisuke didn't know what to do but then, Ryosuke, who had witnessed the whole thing walked towards him and with a very stern sounding voice, he said:

'If you don't go after her this instant I'm kicking you out of Project D.'

Keisuke looked at his brother and, seeing he was very serious about it, he nodded and started running towards the hall.

It was empty so he carried on towards the car park just in time to see Kyoko's FD leaving it at an alarming speed.

Not thinking about it twice, Keisuke got into his own FD and started its engine so he could follow her.

'Goddamit she's fast!' he complained seeing how very quickly the black FD was disappearing in the distance.

Fortunately for him, the restaurant where the reception was being held was on top of Mt Akagi so he decided to forget about the incoming traffic making the FD's rotary engine give him all it had.

Unfortunately for him, Kyoko seemed to have had the same idea and, not even using the best drifting techniques he had, he still couldn't close the gap between them.

Keisuke had never driven like that before; he had never felt anymore desperate for speed in his whole life. Not even during the hardest races with Project D.

Keisuke's mounting frustration turned into sheer terror when he saw that Kyoko's car had started behaving oddly.

Pressing the accelerator further, Keisuke managed to get close enough to take a good look at the black FD and, with dismay, he realised that one of the rear tyres was lower than the other one.

'Stop it you stupid woman! You're going to kill yourself!' he shouted inside his car knowing perfectly well that Kyoko couldn't hear him.

Then it happened: the tyre gave up and exploded, sending Kyoko's car into an incontrollable spin. Seeing this made Keisuke feel as though as his heart wanted to come out through his throat.

In slow motion, he saw as the black FD's front hit one of the guardrails and then, following the inertia, hit its back against the opposite guardrail bringing the car to a halt across the middle of the road. Keisuke was grateful that no cars came neither of the two ways for it would have been an instant collision.

Keisuke braked as hard as he could making his car stop just a few centimetres away from Kyoko's FD. He literally jumped out of the yellow FD as he ran towards the driver's side of the black one.

'ARE YOU CRAZY?' he shouted at her the minute he had got the door open.

Kyoko was sitting very still holding the steering wheel with both hands. In her face, Keisuke saw the traces of her tears and that made him do something he'd been dying to do.

Snatching her seatbelt open, he basically removed her from the car and took her in his arms hugging her as tightly as he could to him.

'You could have died you stupid woman,' he said with his voice full of all the emotion he had repressed for all those months.

She didn't say anything so he carried on:

'What would I do if you died? Do you want to tell me that?'

Finally, Kyoko pushed away from him and looking up to his eyes, she said:

'Why do you care?'

Her bitterness made him hurt even more.

'Goddammit Kyoko!' he shouted, 'what do you want me to say? That I'm in love with you? That I can't live with the thought that one day you'll get tired of waiting for me? Is that what you want to hear?'

He felt himself shaking and, not being able to cope with it anymore he released her and sat on top of the black FD's bonnet hiding his face in his hands.

'I don't know what to do…' he finally said sounding absolutely devastated.

'You're in love with me?' he heard Kyoko ask with a very tiny voice.

He looked up and said:

'Yes. What do we do now?'

'I don't know,' she said.

'Look, you know that I'm not good with doing more than one thing at the time.'

'Keisuke, I know that. The mistake you made was to think that I'd expect you to give me all of your time to me. I wouldn't want that. I know that a part of your heart will always belong to racing. All I ever wanted was to be allowed into your life.'

'Even if I can't be with you all the time, even if I can't give you my full attention?' he asked.

'Even if you could only dedicate me just five minutes every day, I still would treasure those five minutes and would be looking forward to them more than to anything else.'

'I don't know, it sounds too selfish for me to ask you to cope with that.'

'You aren't listening to me Keisuke: I'd love to be with you even if it was for only a few minutes. You don't have to ask me, I'm volunteering for it.'

'Are you sure you can be happy with that?' he asked still unsure.

'YES! Do you want me to spell it out for you? I-L-O-V-E-Y-O-U! There, happy?' she said exasperatedly.

He looked at her and then his lips started to curve to form a smile.

'You're too much.'

'Look who's talking,' she said smiling through her dried tears.

'What a messed up couple we're going to be,' Keisuke commented while getting up to kiss her.

Kyoko simply laughed. The two were far too happy to think that they really needed to remove their cars from the middle of the road.

_To be continued…_


	18. Chapter Seventeen

**Programmed Lives - First Stage**

_Chapter Seventeen_

The room looked extremely cute. A band of paper featuring drawings of little chicks and yellow flowers was stuck across the wall dividing it in two halves: the bottom half was painted in a delicate shade of yellow and the upper one two shades lighter.

Akiko had preferred yellow because, not wanting to know the sex of the baby, it would suit both a girl and a boy. Besides, with the help of the sunlight, the room glowed giving it a sense of happiness.

'Thank you so much for helping me Kyoko,' Akiko said while the two of them sorted the tiny clothes they had just bought inside the drawers of the little cupboard next to the cradle.

'Hey, don't worry! At this stage of the pregnancy you shouldn't do too much and, besides, I'm really happy to help. These little things are so cute!'

'I know, look at this, isn't it adorable?' Akiko said smiling at the little t-shirt in her hands.

'Yes it is,' Kyoko said.

The two women had become as close as sisters in the year Akiko had been married to Ryosuke. It helped that Kyoko seemed to be the fourth person living in the house Akiko and Ryosuke had in Maebashi.

Akiko didn't mind though, she liked the fact that since Kyoko visited Keisuke almost everyday both women got to have lots of fun together.

'Hey Akiko,' the youngest of the Takahashi brothers said coming into the room, 'this is the box you wanted, isn't it?'

'Yes. Leave it there by the bookcase, please,' she said.

'Sure. I'll be in the garage, if you girls need anything…'

'Okay. Thanks Keisuke,' Akiko said.

'No probs,' he replied walking out of the room.

'What's in there?' Kyoko asked opening the box for Akiko.

'Oh, some books my mother used to read me to get me to sleep. I would like to keep them here for when the baby is old enough.'

'Ah, look! I know this one!' Kyoko exclaimed taking one of the books out of the box.

Akiko saw a piece of paper fall from inside the book. She bent down to pick it up so she could see what it was.

'What's that?' Kyoko asked but Akiko didn't reply.

She started reading whatever was written on the paper and then, without any previous warning, she seemed to turn very white and, to Kyoko's horror, she fainted.

If it hadn't been for the excellent reflexes she had developed through street racing and the fact that, even being six months pregnant, Akiko was still smaller and lighter than her, Kyoko wouldn't have been able to catch her friend and Akiko would have probably hit the floor pretty heavily.

'Oh God! Keisuke help!' she shouted but, realising that the garage was too far away from that room for her boyfriend to hear her, Kyoko had to leave Akiko on the floor and run to the garage as fast as she could.

She arrived there completely out of breath. The only thing she managed to say was:

'Quick, help!'

The utterly terrified expression on her face seemed to say the rest for Keisuke seemed to understand the situation at once.

Running even faster than she had, he got to the baby's room a few seconds before she did and, by that time, Keisuke was already trying to wake Akiko up.

'She's not waking up,' he said with a tone of voice loaded with panic.

'What do we do?' Kyoko asked feeling even more frightened than he did.

'Call Aniki, immediately!' he exclaimed while picking Akiko up from the floor.

'Where are we going?' Kyoko asked, clearly not thinking straight.

'To the hospital silly, where else do you want to go?' he asked exasperated.

Kyoko went to the sofa to get her phone from inside her bag when she saw the paper Akiko had been reading. Something made pick it up but, instead of reading it she just put it inside the pocket of her jeans and even though her hands were very shaky, she still managed to dial Ryosuke's number.

'Hello?' she heard him answer.

'Ryosuke, it's Kyoko. We're taking Akiko to the hospital…'

'What? What happened?' he said over the phone, his tense tone scaring Kyoko even more.

'I don't know. She fainted and now she doesn't wake up…'

'Is Keisuke there?'

'Yes,' she said.

'Tell him to take her here, I'm going downstairs and I'll be waiting for him there,' he ordered.

'Alright,' she said hanging up.

Keisuke, having received these instructions, put Akiko on the passenger seat of the FD and, climbing onto the driver's seat he started the car and took off as fast as the sports car would go. For once, he had a very legitimate reason to break the speed limits.

After locking up the house, Kyoko decided to follow him in her FD.

By the time she arrived to one of the Arakawa clinics in Maebashi, Keisuke was already helping an orderly placing Akiko on top of a stretcher.

'What happened exactly?' Ryosuke asked them the minute he stepped out of the clinic's main entrance.

'I don't know. One minute she was fine, then she was reading this and she just fainted,' Kyoko stammered while handing him the piece of paper she had stuck into her pocket.

Ryosuke scanned the contents of the paper and, for some reason, he too became rather pale.

'Oh my God,' he whispered then, speaking to the doctor who was helping them carry Akiko to one of the examination rooms, he said:

'Doctor Kitamura, she's had a severe emotional shock...'

'Don't worry Doctor Takahashi, we'll take care of her,' Ryosuke's colleague assured him.

'What happened?' Keisuke asked as he followed his brother through the corridor.

'This,' he simply said handing the piece of paper to him.

He then read the contents loud enough so Kyoko would hear it too:

_Dear Akiko,_

_I'm sorry I'm doing this to you but I can no longer cope with the loveless life your father has condemned me to. The stress he's put on me, especially after finding out that I'm expecting his so much desired heir, is just too much. I don't even want to think of__ what he'll do to this poor boy._

_For this reason, I think that the best I can do for him as a mother is to prevent his birth. I hope you'll understand my decision one day._

_With all my love, _

_Your mother._

'Fucking hell,' was all Keisuke managed to say. Kyoko didn't even get there, she was totally speechless.

'You stay here, I'll see if there is anything I can do,' Ryosuke said disappearing behind a set of doors.

'I can't believe this,' Kyoko finally said.

'I know. She killed herself AND the baby,' Keisuke said still in a state of profound disbelief.

'Geez, I don't even want to imagine how Akiko must have felt after reading this,' Kyoko said.

'Even more because she's pregnant too.'

Kyoko was going to say something but, at that precise moment, they saw Doctor Arakawa running towards them.

'Where is she?'

He had obviously been informed that his daughter had been brought in.

'We don't know, they're checking on her at the moment,' Keisuke explained.

'So irresponsible! God knows what she was doing! She should take better care of herself now she's carrying my grandchild!' Doctor Arakawa said.

Keisuke couldn't believe his ears.

'Doctor Arakawa, I'm sure she'll be fine,' Kyoko started.

'She better be! If something happens to my grandchild because of her stupidity...'

That was more than what Keisuke could bear.

'Hey, you heartless bastard, don't you give a toss about your own daughter?' he shouted, not giving a damn whether the whole hospital heard him.

'What did you call me?' Doctor Arakawa said getting red with fury.

'She fainted after reading this,' Kyoko said, also very annoyed at Akiko's father's insensitivity.

He snatched the piece of paper from Kyoko and, after reading it he said:

'That bitch!'

Kyoko had to restrain as much as she could Keisuke for he looked positively murderous.

'That bitch is trying to kill my grandchild too!'

Kyoko felt Keisuke go limp in her arms.

'You knew?' she heard him ask.

'Of course I knew! The bloody insurance company ran an investigation: there was nothing wrong with the car! The bitch had driven herself down the cliff taking my unborn son with her!'

That was more than Kyoko could cope with and she would have fainted too if Ryosuke hadn't come out of the room. Exerting an incredible amount of self-control to keep his voice even, he spoke to his father-in-law:

'That is enough. Doctor Arakawa, your daughter is awake now and, I'm sorry to say this but she's heard every single word of what you've said.'

Doctor Arakawa's eyes widened as he, too, paled.

'She wants to see you, I don't know why, but she insists,' Ryosuke continued, his voice clearly saying that he completely disagreed with his wife.

The man followed Ryosuke inside and, this time, Keisuke decided to go in too leaving Kyoko outside.

Akiko was lying on a bed with an IV line feeding her a saline solution.

'You knew this, didn't you?' Akiko asked accusingly the minute she saw her father, 'you knew what mum had done and you never said anything.'

'I…' Doctor Arakawa started saying.

'I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear a single word of what you may want to say. All my life I've done nothing but trying my best so you would love me. I failed miserably, the same way Mum failed to get your love but, I'm not like her, ironically, thanks to you I'm a lot stronger than she ever was and, unlike her, I now have a husband who will support me no matter what.'

'Akiko,' he tried again but she interrupted him again:

'You're my father and I can't change that, but I want to ask you this: if you can't bring yourself to love me as a father, I want you to leave me and my new family alone. We may have to work together but, after that, I want you to stay out of our way and we'll stay out of yours. Now, please leave this room.'

'If you don't do it voluntarily we'll gladly do it for you,' Keisuke added using his most menacing tone of voice.

Doctor Arakawa considered his options briefly before deciding to do as he was told.

'Akiko, I'm sorry,' he finally said as he stepped out of the room.

Akiko just nodded.

'You should get some rest now,' Ryosuke said his face full of concern.

'Yeah, I should,' Akiko agreed leaning back on the pillows.

'Everything will be fine, I promise,' Ryosuke said sitting on the chair next to the bed and taking Akiko's hand in his.

'Now I know it will be,' she replied smiling at him.

As discretely as he could, Keisuke left his brother and sister-in-law alone in the room as he walked to the waiting room where Kyoko was waiting for him.

_To be concluded…_


	19. Epilogue

**Programmed Lives - First Stage**

_Epilogue_

Suzuka Race Circuit.

He had to do it, he simply had to pass that bloody car. No matter how much it took he would pass that NA1. It had taken Takumi another one of his miracles to get the car into second position and he, Keisuke, would not waste all his team-mate's efforts by driving poorly. No matter how tired he felt.

Finally, after following the black Honda through three consecutive laps, he saw an opening, whether it had been a mistake from its driver or not, Keisuke didn't care: he pressed the accelerator so hard that it touched the floor or his Mazda, the latest racing evolution of the FD3S.

Pushing through a space that seemed otherwise much too small for the car to get through, Keisuke finally managed to pass the Honda.

'Now, watch my ass as I pull away from you!' he shouted.

Sweating so much that his entire racing suit was wet and sticky, Keisuke crossed the finish line screaming so loudly that the mechanics at the Kirin Takahashi Racing Team box had to remove their headphones from their ears.

'He's done it!' Takumi shouted still looking exhausted from his contribution to the team's victory.

'Yeah, he has, we all have…' Ryosuke said still not being fully aware of what this meant for his team.

After so many sacrifices, after endless nights of hard work and eternally long training sessions, the team he had put together after the dissolution of his Project D, had managed to do what he had dreamt his entire life: they had won both titles of the Japanese GT300 championship.

And this with over two years to spare before he had promised to give up racing!

Ryosuke observed as his brother parked the white and yellow car getting out of it and being completely surrounded by fans and journalists as he did so.

Takumi joined the celebration as the photographers took several pictures of them. Then, Keisuke called him:

'Hey, Aniki! Come here!'

Ryosuke walked towards them and, after hugging his brother and Takumi, the three of them posed for a final picture.

Almost an hour later, and after picking up the trophy and answering to the hundreds of questions all journalists seemed to have, Takumi and Keisuke joined everyone back in the box.

A small toddler walked as fast as possible towards Keisuke.

'Kee-kee!' the baby shouted happily.

'Hey little guy! Your favourite uncle's won!' he said picking his nephew up from the ground.

'Keisuke, you are the only uncle he has,' Takumi was insensitive enough to point out.

'Oh shut up!' Keisuke said laughing.

'I'm sorry Keisuke, he escaped my control for only one second,' Akiko said coming towards them.

'Don't worry, give the poor Kyosuke some freedom!' Keisuke exclaimed.

'Yeah right, so he turns right like you,' Ryosuke countered joining the group making everybody laugh.

'Kyo-chan, your parents are boring,' he said to the little boy who was having fun playing with one of the patches of his uncle's racing suit, 'what do you think if we go for a spin with my racing car? Would you like that?' he said still talking to the baby.

'NO WAY!' Akiko said snatching the kid from his uncle's arms, 'he's much too small for that. Give him at least another twenty years.'

'Rubbish, he's a Takahashi, he'll be racing before you know it!' Keisuke said then his smile widened even more seeing the girl who was approaching the group.

'I'm sorry, I've been busy with the journalists,' Kyoko said, 'I didn't know being the team's press officer would be this tiring!'

'There is a reason why I didn't want to get involved my dear,' Akiko said.

'That's right but working at the clinic while taking care of your son too is no joke,' Kyoko commented.

'Don't forget my husband and your boyfriend, sometimes they're worse than Kyosuke,' Akiko added.

Ryosuke observed the whole picture. He was immensely happy with his life.

'Hey Aniki, do you have what I asked you to bring?' Keisuke asked taking the chance that both Akiko and Kyoko were distracted.

'Sure. Good luck,' he said while handing him something.

Keisuke took his helmet and called Kyoko.

'What's up?' Kyoko said following Keisuke to a quieter area of the box.

'Take this and have a look inside,' Keisuke said handing Kyoko his racing helmet.

'Oh my…is this…' Kyoko said taking the small box she had found inside it.

'Well…' Keisuke started saying.

'Yes, yes and a million times yes!' Kyoko started shouting bobbing up and down.

'Hey, I'm supposed to ask you first, you know?' Keisuke complained.

'Oh alright, ask then,' Kyoko said with a huge smile on her face.

'But I already know the answer,' Keisuke complained.

'Keisuke, you've known the answer for two years already,' she countered.

'Alright then: Kyoko, do you want to marry me?' Keisuke asked getting serious.

'Oh, I don't know,' Kyoko replied biting her lower lip making Keisuke grunt.

'Do you always have to be this difficult?' he asked while taking her in his arms and kissing her.

'Everyday, otherwise you'll get lazy,' she replied.

She was right so Keisuke just laughed and kissed her again.

'So, I take we'll be organising another Takahashi wedding soon, huh?' Akiko asked still carrying her son Kyosuke in her arms. Ryosuke and Takumi were also there both trying to contain their mirth.

'You can say that out loud sis,' Keisuke said laughing happily.

_See you next stage…_


End file.
